Hicksville Board of Education trustees discussed a second draft of a proposed district budget at their recent meeting March 5, as the board proposed a $178,811,424 budget for the 2025-26 school year.
The proposal represents a 3.2% increase from the 2024-25 budget. The district provided a breakdown of its proposed revenue for the 2025-26 budget, saying the tax levy would count for 66.8% of it. State aid accounts for 23.8%, PILOT payments for 4.3%, appropriated reserves and fund balance for 2.5%, transfers from the capital for 0.8% and other revenue for 1.8% of the total revenue.
The board presented three scenarios for the district’s tax levy for the 2025-26 school year – one that would not override the tax levy cap and two that would.
The first scenario would have the district meet 100% of the proposed $119,406,174 tax levy cap. The other two scenarios would have $119,330,553 and $119,830,553 tax levies with $117,830,553 and $117,830,553 tax levy caps, respectively, meaning both would have levies exceeding that cap.
Hicksville Assistant Superintendent for Business Marcy Tannenbaum confirmed that the district submitted the first scenario to the Office of the State Comptroller by the March 1 deadline.
The district had a tax levy of $115,533,074 and a limit for the 2024-25 budget. The submitted lax levy would be an increase of 3.4%.
If the district were to propose a budget that exceeds the tax cap limit, it would need 60% approval from voters.
The district predicted that it will use $167,581,889.42 for expenses for the current budget, which will result in an operating surplus this year of $1.1 million. That would allow the district to fully replenish reserves used in the prior year ($472,559), set aside for an increase in its 4% unassigned fund balance and provide an excess of approximately $325,000. Tannenbaum said this prediction will change before the end of the fiscal year. Hicksville operated with a $173,222,743 budget for the 2024-25 academic year.
The district provided a breakdown of its proposed revenue for the 2025-26 budget, as it said that the tax levy would count for 66.8% of it. State aid accounts for 23.8%, PILOT payments for 4.3%, appropriated reserves and fund balance for 2.5%, transfers from the capital for 0.8% and other revenue for 1.8% of the total revenue.
The district said it will have $858,749 of its capital reserves left after the 2025-26 budget, as it proposed to use $1,271,251 from its capital plan for technology. Community members approved a five-year plan in 2021-2022 for technology improvements.
The district will hold its third budget meeting on March 19, which is set to discuss strategic goals, instruction, staffing and benefits.
