At a recent protest in front of One West Street in Mineola, some residents complained that their taxes have reached a point where they can barely afford to live in Nassau County. Some said they would consider moving if taxes keep going up. A large portion of the tax problem, the way some residents see it, is school taxes as school districts and boards of education put up budgets for public vote each year with inevitable increases.

The Elmont School District has traditionally been a district with conservative spending practices with spending per pupil among the lowest in Nassau County even considering Elmont is a K-6 district. However, even though the Elmont 2004-2005 budget passed comfortably this past May, according to the district when tax bills reached homes this fall, many residents called the school district regarding the increase they saw on the bill.

In the Elmont School District's issue of Dialogue, the district newsletter's budget issue, it was stated that the expenditures from the 2004-2005 budget would jump from $50,523,292 in 2003-2004 to $54,974,766. The budget-to-budget increase in expenditures represented a 6.6 percent increase with only 3.1 percent coming as a result of a change in programs or services and 3.5 percent coming as a result of mandated costs.

School districts have had to deal with rising mandated costs such as state medical insurance rates and state pension costs. However, the Elmont School District put together a budget that was approved by voters even though many districts across Nassau County saw their budgets fail including the Sewanhaka Central High School District, although the community of Elmont supported that budget as well.

Of the Elmont 2004-2005 budget expenditures of $54,976,766, $39,807,971, which represents the tax levy that was reported to Nassau County by the district on July 7, was the amount to be raised by taxes. When district residents received their tax bills, the average increase experienced by homeowners was 14.82 percent. However, Elmont School District officials say that only a portion of this is due to school expenditures.

Of the 14.82 percent, district officials say 8.27 is attributable to the budgets of the Elmont School District and the Sewanhaka Central High School District, which is comprised of Sewanhaka High School, Elmont Memorial High School, Floral Park Memorial High School, New Hyde Park Memorial High School and H. Frank Carey High School. District officials say the library budget, which included payment for the bond that was passed during this past year for a new library, accounted for 1.68 percent; 2.57 percent represented the shift of tax responsibility from the business class to the homeowner class; 1.62 percent in reductions made by the state to STAR subsidies and 0.68 represents the re-evaluation of county assessments.

According to a press release sent out by the district, because of the county's landmark reassessment of homes and commercial properties and because businesses have filed reassessment challenges, the burden of taxes continues to shift to homeowners (Class I) from commercial properties (Class IV). As a result, homeowners are paying 73 percent of the tax burden whereas the other classes are only paying 27 percent of the tax burden.

When residents go to the poll in May to vote on spending plans for 2004-2005, they are essentially voting on expenditures. At the time of the budget votes, schools are finding it difficult to determine an accurate tax rate since school districts do not know what their revenues will be. District residents are voting on 6.6 percent budget-to-budget increase but when their tax bills come, it comes to 14.82 percent out of their wallets.

However, school districts such as Elmont are in a bind. According to Thomas Galante, the administrative financial officer for the Elmont School District and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Maria Palandra, costs are being controlled as best the district can. However the tax rate is increasing at a much higher rate than expenses.

The average tax rate for homeowners in the Elmont School District increased 13.4 percent of which, the district says, 11.9 percent is attributable to the Sewanhaka Central High School District and Elmont School District combined.

The Elmont School District is offering to review the process or current budget figures with district taxpayers who can call 326-5500 ext. 17 for a consultation.