Residents of Carle Place School District received good news at the district’s third budget meeting last Thursday.
District Superintendent Ted Cannone announced that the district was now proposing a 1.99% tax levy increase, a 0.48% decrease from the previously proposed 2.37% tax levy increase at its first meeting. This will result in an approximately $180.90 annual tax increase for the average family, the board said.
The district will be using a higher percentage of its retirement reserves to fund the difference created by the lower tax levy increase, said Assistant Superintendent for Business Joanna DeMartino.
The tax cap for the district, or maximum proposed tax increase that could be levied, is 2.39%.
The remainder of the presentation was focused on the technology, athletics, health, physical education, family and consumer sciences, and fine and performing arts portion of the district’s budget, which account for 3.3% of the district’s proposed $58,689,234 budget.
“This presentation about arts, athletics, and health is a relatively small portion of the budget as far as the amount of money involved,” Cannone said. “But it is a giant part of what we do as a school. So many of the things that are memorable for kids, that kids talk about well beyond their years at the school, and are some of the most wonderful work that we do are in this portion of the budget.”
This part of the district’s financial plan has a proposed 11.99% increase from last year, an uptick largely driven by the technology portion of this budget, which alone is projected to experience a 16.51% raise from last year.
The increase in the technology budget is primarily due to an update of the district’s network core switches, a project which is necessary to ensure proper Wi-Fi connection in the school buildings and to prevent internet outages, said Jen Bambino, the district director of instructional technology.
Other major drivers of the technology budget include instructional software, new SmartBoards, and other equipment.
The athletics, health, physical education, and FACS portion of the budget, which is projected to increase 2.7%, includes uniform replacement for five sports teams, new gymnastics mats and beam, an ice machine for the athletic trainer’s office, and a new scoreboard for games. The fine arts portion of the budget, which is not projected to experience an increase this year, is at x, and includes art and music equipment like new music stands and concert microphones, an electric bass guitar, and new holiday concert attire.
The district has two remaining budget meetings, on March 20 and April 3, prior to its May 20 budget vote. April 3 is the district’s budget adoption meeting, where the board will vote to adopt the budget that will be on May’s ballot. Also on May’s ballot is an election for an open school board seat.
District residents who are registered voters can cast their ballots between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Carle Place High School on Election Day.
