The Mineola Board of Education, at its March 15 meeting of the board, adopted the 2007-2008 budget that will be put out to vote on Tuesday, May 15. The budget maintains all educational programs and activities.

The district will be asking residents to approve a $75,664,471 budget, which represents a 5.46 percent increase in spending over the 2006-2007 budget, which amounted to $71,748,519. A good portion (44.96 percent) of the $3,915,952 increase in spending can be attributed to debt service, An increase in debt service is attributable to the $10 million bond referendum that was passed last year.

The board has also allocated its yearly $500,000 commitment to capital upgrades. Among the items scheduled to by done from the $500,000 allocation in the 2007-2008 budget are drainage and asphalt for the Hampton Street School track ($50,000), the boys and girls locker rooms at the high school ($100,000), redesigned and update of the Cross Street and Hampton Street Schools libraries and computer labs ($75,000), replacement of window air conditioning at the high school ($35,000), asphalt and putting down track lines at the high school track ($50,000) and burglar alarms for all the school ($50,000)

Of the $75,664,471 budget total, $68,992,102 is the amount to be raised by taxes or the tax levy (using initial state aid projections since a state budget has not been passed).

If the budget was to fail on May 15, the board would have the option of putting the budget back before voters for a second vote or adopting a contingency budget. If the budget failed a second time, the contingency budget would automatically go into affect. A contingency budget would only be $337,573 less than the proposed budget since the board would remove $212,573 in operational equipment and $125,000 in capital upgrade equipment for air conditioners and lockers.

A resident can calculate his or her tax bill by multiplying your assessed value by your school district's tax rate. You can calculate your assessed value by multiplying the market value by your home by .005. The school tax rate for the Mineola School District in 2006-2007 was $436.317.

Future board of education meetings before the budget vote will be held on Thursday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m. with the formal budget hearing scheduled for Thursday, May 3 at 7 p.m. All meetings take place at the Willis Avenue School cafeteria.