What appeared to be a boost when the Seaford School District received a spike in building aid last month has now turned into a curse.
Seaford Superintendent Brian Conboy explained during Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting that the district was alerted Wednesday about how the extra building aid will negatively affect how they are impacted by the new 2 percent tax cap rule passed by Albany lawmakers last summer. Conboy said a complex formula built within the tax cap law means that as a result of the $2.2 million in building aid Seaford is receiving for completed projects from a 2007 $21.5 million capital improvements bond, the district is only allowed to increase its tax levy by .68 percent.
“Seaford may be one of the only districts in New York State that does not have the ability to at least propose a 2 percent tax cap for a minimum vote,” said Conboy during Thursday’s school board meeting held at Seaford Manor School.
Seaford Assistant Superintendent for Business Ken Aldrich said under a .68 percent tax levy increase, the district would need to slash $862,839 to maintain current programs and staff levels. Under a 2 percent tax levy hike, the district would be looking at having to cut around $250,000, Aldrich said. A tax levy is the total amount that a district must raise in property taxes in order to meet expenses.
Conboy called and sent letters to Assemblyman David G. McDonough, R-North Merrick, and State Sen. Charles Fuschillo, R-Merrick, to see if emergency legislation can be adopted to assist districts like Seaford facing unusual circumstances that limit allowable increases far below the 2 percent tax cap. Districts are supposed to post their tax cap-related figures for the 2012/13 school year by March 1. Conboy pointed out in his letter to Fuschillo and McDonough read at the school board meeting that in addition to operating on a contingency budget, Seaford has the second lowest per pupil spending of all 56 districts in Nassau County.
“This restriction places a crippling and additional burden on us making the development of any financially conservative budget plan for the 12/13 school year, virtually impossible,” Conboy wrote in his letter to the two local Albany lawmakers. “I ask in the greatest urgency that the New York State Legislature act swiftly to examine the situations within the state for the few districts that are in a similar situation with a less than 2 percent tax levy increase restriction.”
The latest blow Seaford was dealt from the state drew frustration from school board members including vice president Richard DiBlasio who stated in his closing remarks during Thursday’s meeting, “Albany, we have a problem.”
“I feel like we were slammed,” DiBlasio said. “The people I feel sorry for are the children.”
The Seaford school board is planning to begin crafting its 2012/13 budget during its March 1 work session and then continue with weekly meetings throughout the month. Conboy said if Seaford is stuck at a .68 percent tax levy cap, many staff cuts will have to be made.
“Right now were in a prepare for the worst hope for the best situation,” he said. “We have to proceed with our budget planning as if the worst is going to come true.”
Seaford will quake, rattle & roll.
Everyone needs to understand Seafords students have great potential, they are bright kids. When looking at the colleges they go to we ALL must consider the financials. Some of our students simply can not afford to go to big name colleges BECASUE of the taxes and the economy. It just isnt in the budget for alot of families. We need as a community to address that ALONG with the quality and caliber of education we provide them here in Seaford.to prepare them. I would love to see this community band together for an annual Seaford scholarship fund raising endevour. We raise funds for all sorts of sports and activities however we dont raise funds for scholarships! WHY? k-12 is the foundation, We need to insure we give them the best foundation we can, we ALSO need to understand that sometimes a little financial help for college goes a long way when your family is struggling just to meet the monthly bills. Fund raise for EDUCATIONAL Scholarships with the same zeal and dedication and hard work we do for sports and other activities.
Take a peek at their spending habits - their technology plan, and then take a look at ours. you will be slightly SHOCKED and dismayed at the difference in priorities.
Justification for a New Music wing VERSUS inproving and upgrading technology infrastructure? Justification for a TURF field versus investing in a less grandeous field with SOLAR lights combined with infrastructure improvements, The returns would be the same wouldnt they, they ALL qualified . I seriously doubt the STATE would refund MORe for a TURF FIELD then for technology improvements, but then again crazier things happen in Albany. its the CHOICES that were made that we may differ on.. Again thanks for the info..
READ what these communities are doing, what their priorities are or got o the PATCH locations and read THEIR school news, Pull up EACH Sd's Technology plan on their Sd website read it and weep then go to Seaford Sd website and read OUR Technology plan, then laugh or cry. I specifically point out Technology becaseu thats what i am expert in so i can make an informed comment THEN request a foil on all the Administration and adminsitrativ personnel in Seaford like i did and find out what qualificaitons these poeple have for these positions. What expereince and what salaries, Request a foil on JOB descriptions, responsibilities, Job Ads and salaries again like i did .. THEN go to ANY educational or Career Recruiting web site and pull a comp. THEN either laugh your ass off or shake your head and say what the hell is going on.. These are issues that are ignored not discussed or swept under the rug. THESE are issues that frustrate the hell out me and others because if your house isnt in line , if it isnt run properly by the right people with the right qualifications making decisions then everyhting else is suspect. Ask for a foil for the UTS current contract, then go look up Jerichos , go line by line on each and every item, and decide if Seaford teachers are under paid or if Seafords Boards just handed them a blank contract and said fill in the blanks however you like , just dont make it TOO obvious.
Find out how many other Sd;s or businesses for that matter ASK their employees to write their own job descriptions and responsibilties.. How can we recruite when there is NO job description! No qualifications? request a FOIL like i did on contracts for Administrators along with the specific job ads and descriptions for those jobs You dont need to be CEO of a company or an HR specialist, or have even held a job to realize HOW We do business, how we educate is reflective of the WHO.
When New York State officials agreed to allow local governments to use an unusual borrowing plan to put off a portion of their pension obligations, fiscal watchdogs scoffed at the arrangement, calling it irresponsible and unwise. And now, their fears are being realized: cities throughout the state, wealthy towns such as Southampton and East Hampton, counties like Nassau and Suffolk, and other public employers like the Westchester Medical Center and the New York Public Library are all managing their rising pension bills by borrowing from the very same $140 billion pension fund to which they owe money. Across New York, state and local governments are borrowing $750 million this year to finance their contributions to the state pension system, and are likely to borrow at least $1 billion more over the next year. The number of municipalities and public institutions using this new borrowing mechanism to pay off their annual pension bills has tripled in a year.
27+ years experience in voice and data , Numerous technical certifications - IT Analysis, VOIP , Communications Construction Management, CRM, Project Executive, Previous expereince - Exec VP of a Data consulting firm Telcom & Technical Sales Manager @ AT&T HR manager @AT&T for international employees. Consultant liason to VERIZON< MITEL< LUCENT< AT&T and numerous other companies Consultant on call for Gerson Learman so yeah darling being OTHERS in the industry consider me an EXPERT i can state that.. I also was an active PTa member chairing many committees, President of the Council of PTAs, Brownie and Girl scout leader, Fund raiser for the Broncos, Seaford little league and Massapequa Mustangs. Invited Speaker @ C-21 convention on networking-as well as SIA,SBA..and other organizations Member of Women in Technology and Women in Business wife, mother & grandmother and mommy to two wheaton terriers. and you do WHAT exactly Ms Hayes?
oh wait also chaired the seaford blood drive.. Son went to Chaminade, Daughter to Holy Trinity - BOTH are very senior well respected executives in their fields. Grew up in Westchester.. I will be 60 on the 16th of this month, married 40 years have 2 Kia.s and Hyundai.. I can also send you a copy of my resume if you would like.
Since I made the comment about "ponzi schemes" I'll respond. I made this snarky comment in response to a NY Times piece highlighted by "Escape LI" describing how municipalities and other government entitites are now borrowing money from pension funds so they can turn around and make payments to those same pension funds. One of the chracteristics of a Ponzi scheme involves an attempt to obscure the fact that its net liquid asset value is either stagnant or declining by continuing to make payments or service redemptions out of investment principal iinstead of investment returns. This results in a situation in which those investors, or in the case of a pension fund, those pensioners, expecting a payout in the future are actually, unbeknownst to them, at further risk of never seeing those payments at all. In extreme cases, future payments never get made. Presumably, in the case of a pension fund, they are essentially replacing liquid assets (i.e.money) with an i.o.u. from the government. But obviously a pensioner doesn't want an i.o.u. - they want money. To put this into further perspective, if an investment fund of any scale engaged in this kind of activity it's very likely they could look forward to a visit from the friendly folks at the SEC. The fact that we're talking about a public employee pension fund instead, doesn't change the true nature of the kind of shaky measures these funds are taking.
Three reasons: (1) The government, in the form of the Fed, is enforcing a low interest rate policy; meanwhile most public employee pension funds assume an annual return of 7% or more - wholly unrealistic in this day and age; (2) People are livlng a lot longer - obviously you wouldn't call this a "problem" but it's certainly a factor in terms of underfunded pensions plans and finally (3) As a result, pension plans are just plain too rich, given the diminished net worth of the plans themselves. This is why you see pension managers cozying up to hedge fund managers and other types of "Wall Street" investment funds we all like to demonize. They know they're underfunded, they know that the days of getting enough return out of safe fixed income investments is gone, and so like everyone else they're chasing yield. I don't work on Wall Street, and I'm not an apologist for what has gone on since 2007, but I do think we need to be clear about the chalenges we face. Pension plans are underfunded - there's not enough money to cover future obligations - which is why taxpayers are being forced to pony up more.
The bottom line is: the Teachers pension fund is loaded up to 98% the amount We pay into the fund via taxes is a measely 2% to make up the difference and when the fund is BACK to 100% we will have to pay nothing? HMMMMM does that mean we are paying ONLY 2% NOW? please share with me WHERE you received this information. Maybe I am not comprehending correctly and need to read it for myself.
SSTeacher is a teacher, he is part of the brain washed elitist who actually believe they are not part of a sub culture that is pampered and over paid. You need to get a job in the private sector. Off 4 months a year. J O K E . Wall Street has recovered fully. The GREEDY Teachers Union will break this town yet. WATCH.
http://longisland.newsday.com/templates/simpleDB/?pid=374&brand=newsday&fieldSelect-Retirement_system=Teachers&q=seaford 138 Districts, Teacher Pensions Contributions 2010 -2013 http://longisland.newsday.com/templates/simpleDB/?pid=374&brand=newsday&fieldSelect-Retirement_system=Teachers&q=
Public pension funds “have been the investors that have really fueled private equity’s rise,” said Steven Davidoff, a professor of law and finance at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law in Columbus, Ohio. “For those people who complain about private equity, the money is really coming from pension funds.” Private equity firms buy companies and seek to trim costs, improve operations, boost profits and resell them. The takeovers are typically financed by debt taken on by the purchased companies. Fulton Mayor Ronald Woodward, a Republican, said the Birds Eye takeover has devastated his town, adding that he is troubled to learn that New York pension money helped finance the acquisition. “Isn’t that a slap in the face to the people in Fulton that are losing their jobs and paying the salaries of those union workers and they’re using their investments there,” Mr. Woodward said. “It’s like biting the hand that feeds you.” http://www.pionline.com/article/20120223/REG/120229952/ny-pension-funds-find-private-equity-controversy-as-blackstone-cuts-jobs
I am confused, your explaination of the pension funding and the above information referenced by An tUasal Airgead are a weeeeeeee bit different. So I am asking you to cite your reference material so we can compare. If however you choose to ignore this request I will completely understand as will others. It is just at this point we need to undestand where information is coming from and have the ability to verify it to insure everyone is on the same page. Right now it seems we are in different BOOKs. Also understand this isnt about you OR meor about individual Teachers this is about existing and future financial issues that need to be addressed with some semblence of sanity that is fair and equitable for ALL. No one wants to yank the retirement rug out from anyone else, what is needed is an indepth look to see what changes can be made to insure one side doesnt go bankrupt and the other doesnt get the shaft.
watch this video of the Tax problems on Long Island, it nails it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u58FPkmejoc&feature=player_embedded