The Great Neck School District is proposing a 3.05% tax increase for its 2025-2026 budget, which falls within its tax cap and is a smaller increase than the prior year.
Deputy Superintendent John O’Keefe made the first budget presentation to the board of education on Feb. 11. Not all budget information was available at the time.
“There is no slow time in the business office,” O’Keefe said. “Either we’re kicking off a new school year, starting off a new budget cycle or we’re going through one of many audits during the school year.”
O’Keefe said the district’s budget is guided by its principles of return on investment, high achievement, sound fiscal management and continuous improvement. He said it’s developed collaboratively to uphold the district’s mission.
O’Keefe said the past years have been challenging due to inflation, with an accumulative inflation increase of nearly 20% over the past four years.
He said the tax cap has been set at a 2% increase over the four years despite an average inflation increase of 5%.
While the tax cap is set at a 2% increase, this is only for one portion of the formula, O’Keefe said. This permits school districts to increase their taxes by more than 2% yet still comply with state law.
The district estimates the potential tax levy to be about $244,222,078 next school year, or a 3.05% increase. This falls within the district’s allowable tax increase and is compliant with the tax cap, O’Keefe said.
The budget adopted last year is $281,995,500, a 3.62% budget-to-budget increase. The tax levy increased by 3.26%, within their permitted tax increase.
The district ended the school year in June with fund balances and reserves at $82,702,750.
O’Keefe said that while this seems high, most are restricted. These funds can only be used for specific liabilities, like teacher and employee retirement systems.
The unassigned fund balance is the only category that is not restricted – but has a limit. Great Neck’s is at $11,279,820, which O’Keefe said is within their legal limit of 4% of the school’s budget.
O’Keefe said the unassigned fund balance may appear high but would cover just two weeks of expenses for the district.
Last year, the district used nearly $13 million of fund balances and reserves to fund the budget.
The district estimates it will use $8,868,000 in reserves for the next budget, which would go towards field improvements and converting a shop classroom into a multi-purpose room at North Middle School.
If the district went forward with this spending, the community would have to vote on it.
The district plans for potential capital expenditures next school year, amounting to about $10,880,000.
This would include $10,540,000 for various projects, such as the renovation of the South High auditorium, an exhaust and dust collection system at the South High robotics lab and many more.
The district is also planning to purchase three school buses for $340,000.
Great Neck is projected to receive $15,968,704 in state aid, with $9,258,102 allocated to foundation aid. This is about $600,000 more than the prior year but more than $1 million more than what the district actually received from the state.
The board of education will adopt the budget on April 22. It will then be put to a community vote on May 20.
