Another tax wallop on the horizon?

Sullivan West enters budget season

By KIMBERLY M. WEYANDT

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Described as a “sobering experience,” the first in a series of budget development meetings for the Sullivan West school district was held on Wednesday, February 15. Seven of the nine board members, and a handful of district residents, were in attendance to discuss another significant tax hike, which seems inevitable.

“It was the first formal night of really establishing a baseline as to what our present circumstances are like, and how we will move forward, given normal expectations,” said district superintendent Alan Derry.

Establishing a baseline means estimating the cost of teachers’ salaries and benefits, the district’s annual four-million-dollar mortgage payment, and transportation, insurance and utility expenses. The district expects increased expenditures in both the Teacher Retirement System and the Employee Retirement System, utilities and oil costs. At this point, the district estimates the costs to be up by 7.9 percent. This translates into a tax hike of anywhere from 12 to 15 percent.

“Despite all the reductions made last year, we still have a relatively expensive expenditure,” said Derry. “That’s just looking at the status quo, without any new programs.”

Moving forward, proposals will be made to reduce certain areas and increase others. The goal will be to bring the tax levy down to 10 percent.

The next budget-planning meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 15 at the high school library, at 7:00 p.m. The board will discuss BOCES, athletics, special education and computers.