One of my relatives gave me a pamphlet she received in the mail entitled the 2017 Great Neck Public Schools’ Bulletin, “BOND REFERENDUM EDITION,” and asked for my view.
Reportedly, the pamphlet was sent to selected addresses. Below is my understanding after review and online fact-checking.
The pamphlet calls the residents of the Great Neck peninsula to vote in favor of a referendum on Feb. 14 to cover the costs of purportedly “Critical Structural Projects” ($51.7 million) and “Educational and Building Expansions” ($43.7 million) totaling $95.4 million.
The funding is to be fulfilled by utilizing $9.5 million from the reserves (intended for retirement funds, employee benefits and workers comp) in addition to an $85.9 million purchase of bond(s).
The tax impact of the $85.9 million bond for a Class I home with a valuation $1 million is purported to correspond to an increase of $310 per year.
There is no information on how the $9.5 million would be replaced and how the future taxes would be impacted for the replacement of these reserves.
Also, there is no information on how the taxes of other classes of properties (e.g. stores, residential and commercial buildings) would be affected.
While the pamphlet calls for spending exorbitant monies to be collected from the taxpayers, oddly, there are no line-item breakdowns for most of the enlisted items.
An expenditure of $6.6 million is proposed for duplication of Parkville pre-K and kindergarten at the Clover Drive facility plus $9.8 million is proposed for relocating the Clover Drive facility to New Cumberland Center totaling to $16.4 million cost to the taxpayers.
The rationale given by the president of GNPS board, Barbra Berkowitz, is “E.M. Baker School’s enrollment has increased drastically (emphasis added), and with the desire to honor our commitment to maintain relatively small class size, the Baker kindergarten would also be housed in the [proposed Clover Drive] new early childhood center, just as Lakeville School’s kindergartners attend Parkville.”
Ms. Berkowitz’s statement appears to be at odds with Great Neck Public Schools student enrollment data (596, 578, 587, 600, 596 and 624 for 2011-2016).
There is no reference of the extent of future tax increases in anticipation of hiring new staff for its operation. The distance between currently utilized Parkville facility and the proposed Clover Drive facility is 3.7 miles (approximtely 10-minute drive)
The pamphlet advocates for an expenditure of $6.9 million at Baker school to cover for the costs of expansion of the present auditorium and cafeteria and addition of new toilets.
In light of no substantial increase in student enrollments at Baker School, these expansions appear to be wasteful and unnecessary.
Utilizing a few photographs, purportedly representing the depictions of “Critical Structures” at GNPS, the pamphlet further advocates for expenditure of $51.7 million. There are photos of a half-circle window with peeling paint at Phipps building, roofs with the common wear and tear damages at Baker and South schools.
Per its own data available to the public, GNPS has pre-allocated $3.5 million as maintenance budget for the school year 2016-2017 which includes $1.154 million for in-house maintenance staff wages, $170,000 for overtime maintenance staff wages, $55,000 for electrical repairs outside contractors, $175,000 for Carpentry outside contractors, $160,000 for HVAC outside contractors, $37,000 for Plumbing Supplies, $100,000 for Electrical Supplies, $66,000 for Carpentry Supplies, $66,000 for Painting Supplies and $88,000 for HVAC Supplies.
By categorizing the ordinary maintenance tasks as the “Critical Structural Projects,” the pamphlet advocates against the pre-allocated budgets for the ordinary repairs which are foreseen under the maintenance budget.
New York State mandates a referendum when the annual tax increase is beyond 2 percent.
Yet, none of the proposed expansions appear to be sufficiently vital to meet the criteria for calling for a referendum.
In the five year period of 2011-2015, the enrollments in the entire Great Neck School district has increased by 80 students only 6,352, 6,362, 6,310, 6,375 and 6,432, i.e., 1.2 percent hardly justifiable for the exorbitant expenditure of $43.7 million.
Ms. Berkowitz has asserted that “It has been a daunting task, balancing being fiscally prudent, maintaining the integrity of our aging infrastructure, and ensuring that our educational programs help our students perform competitively and achieve personal success.”
Notwithstanding, the student performances are uncorrelated to bigger auditoriums and immoderate expenditure on the school appearance.
The Great Neck Public Schools with the excessive student cost of $34,000 per year have better than average ratings when compared scholastically to other schools (e.g., Great neck South High School is rated to be 136th nationwide, 19th in New York State). \
Numerous other schools outperform Great Neck Public Schools with a far better rating (e.g., Queens High School for the Sciences at York College is rated to be 38th nationwide, 6th in New York State) at half of the cost per student ($17,000) .
It appears that the excessive salaries for the staff at GNPS could be one of the culprits for the excessive cost per student, e.g., superintendent ($392,000), assistant superintendent ($283,000), high school principal ($216,000), middle school principal ($200,000), elementary school principal ($198,000), athletic director ($201,000), assistant principal middle school ($155,000).
Such salaries are principally at odds with the assertion of “union free school district.”
Despite the assumption that having a good school district is expected to increase the property values, the excessive taxation hurts the property values.
Prospective residents would lose interest in living in Great Neck. Stores would increase their mark ups to survive (at the cost of shoppers) or would go out of business (evident on Middle Neck Road) and outsiders would not be interested in moving to the area.
Considering the tax impacts due to the use of $9.5 million reserves, the additional maintenance, utility costs, the wages of numerous staff to be added as a result of the proposed expansions, the higher prices for the shopping in Great Neck, the assessed tax impact of $315 for a $1 million valuation residence is unconvincing and a multiple of that number could possibly be closer to reality.
To improve our schools and keep the community intact, I direct the attention of GNPS board to look into recruiting more proficient staff for enhancing the educational levels at our schools.
Furthermore, I suggest opposing the wasteful expenditures for expansions and overstated repairs. This is prudent in the current era of economic uncertainties.
Dr. Fred Bassali
Great Neck
