What a relief it was to read the headline of the Feb. 21, 2007 edition of the Mineola American to find that the dire predictions of an 8 or 9 percent increase in school taxes was not to be. Instead only a mere 5.46 percent (but for taxpayers 5.74 percent) is anticipated. Our school board is actively wielding the ax. "The administration has cut nine full-time teaching positions from the proposed budget." I first thought that perhaps we're making some progress to keep costs down, but then my 30 years of public agency budget experience began to kick in!

This is only phase two of the annual budget dance! We have been softened with the prediction of an 8 to 9 percent increase, now we are all relieved that it's only going to be 5.74 percent. The school board is doing its job, by taking a hard line, everybody is happy!

Sorry folks, but this is a common budget tactic, the likelihood of anyone actually being in any of these nine positions is highly remote. These positions are probably part of the various departments "wish list" for the upcoming year or might be current vacant positions. If we get them fine, if we lose them, we'll survive, is the attitude. This is a standard procedure, it allows a department to take a budget hit "on paper" for the upcoming year, but doesn't really hurt the department either. The budget department (school board) gets credit for taking the hard line.

With this 5.46 percent increase in the budget, Mineola could very well be in the position of being the most expensive school district in Nassau County (on a cost per student basis).

Ladies and gentlemen, please spend some time to do a bit of research regarding our school budget history. Review your own tax records, as I have done. Look at the excellent information contained in the Newsday website under Long Island Schools "Report Card." Though the facts are for the 2004/05 school year, it is still worthwhile to compare our district to others, it will be highly enlightening. Take a look at the salaries of Mineola teachers versus the county average, and the number of students to teachers. You will find that we not only have more teachers than average, we also pay them higher. And what about administrative costs how do they compare?

Also ask our local business owners, and owners of even modest commercial properties what they pay in school taxes, the answers will shock you. These costs are then passed back to us as local consumers in higher prices for goods and services, in effect double taxation. Would local business owners think twice about starting a business or relocating a business here in Mineola, knowing the degree of taxation? Is that one of the reasons our commercial tax base is shrinking?

Perhaps we should also project ahead. It is safe to assume that the cost/student will be in excess of $28,000/year in 2007? If we apply that amount, and increase it each year by a mere 5.5 percent (as in the 2007/08 school year) it yields some startling results. A student that enters a pre-K class in the fall of 2007 and graduates from high school in the year 2020 will have had $568,207.00 tax dollars spent on his Mineola experience. By 2020 the cost per student will be $54,164.00/year/student. Will your retirement plans and Social Security income handle that?

Instead of reducing expenses they just go up. Will it ever stop, most likely no, unless we as voters take command. Cutting costs seems to be something this school board and administration are unwilling to do. Nowhere are any substantive cuts being made. I agree with the school board that the possible contingency budget will not be much of a change if the budget is voted down, and is already factored into the budget. But the real point is that the voters must vote it down, as it sends an important signal of dissatisfaction. Even more important is to vote out each incumbent member of the school board, until we find new members that will actually reduce the budget to more realistic levels. That act, repeated each year for as long as required, will eventually result in a responsive and cost-effective school board and Mineola School Policy that will be a credit to this community, and may even become a model for other school districts.

John F. Ciesla