Lindenhurst looking for schools budget fix

After slogging through dozens of potential cuts in programs, Lindenhurst school board members are still more than $1 million short in their effort to keep next year’s budget within the state property tax levy cap.

Lindenhurst officials Tuesday night planned to complete their 2012-13 budget, but after hours of wrangling over ways to cut costs, postponed the finalization until April 4. In addition to allowing more time to find savings, officials said they also should know by then the exact amount of state aid.

At the beginning of the meeting, Superintendent Richard Nathan presented a budget that, after applying nine teacher cuts from “Phase I,” still resulted in a 5.2 percent tax levy. Nathan said that in order to avoid piercing the cap, the district must keep the levy under 3.57 percent. However, board members said the aim is to get to around 3 percent in case some state tax cap exemptions fall through.

The board then voted on 20 programs in phases two through four that amounted to a potential savings of $3.5 million. Of those, the board passed eight measures that would include seven more teacher cuts and a savings of $623,000 and rejected 12 measures worth another $2.9 million.

Among measures approved: turning the elementary and middle school Orion talented and gifted programs into after-school programs; eliminating World Languages in middle school; eliminating the high school’s digital photography and introduction to computer arts courses; and modifying the high school’s Alternative Learning Center into an after-school program. The measures that avoided the ax: fourth- grade instrumental music; combining seventh and eight grade sports teams; and high school dance, JROTC and theater arts programs.

By the end of the night, the tax levy dropped to 4.48 percent. Board president Edward Murphy said they would need to find another $1.3 million to bring the tax levy to around 3 percent. Murphy and other officials said they are hesitant to dip into the district’s reserves — which have dropped to just over $4.2 million — and hope to find other savings.

Above: Lindenhurst Middle School