Mineola School District residents will be voting on the $109.7 million budget and two trustee seats during the May 16 voting day.

Board of Education President Margaret Ballantyne-Mannion and Vice President Patrick Talty are running unopposed for their respective seats.

Trustee terms are for three years.

Ballantyne-Margaret is running for her fourth term. She is a Spanish professor at York College and earned a Ph.D. from Brown University in Hispanic studies.

Ballantyne-Mannion has lived in Mineola since 1972, and she and her husband, Luke Mannion, have been active in the local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

Talty is running for his third term after first being elected in 2017 when he ran unopposed. Professionally, he is an architect with Upton-based Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Prior to his time on the board, Talty coached youth soccer and lacrosse in the district and served as a member of the PTA.

The district budget is a 0.32% decrease in spending from the current year. The proposed tax levy increase is 1%, which falls below the state-mandated tax levy increase of 1.74%. 

The district’s average tax levy increase over the past decade is 1.11%, according to the budget newsletter.

Based on district enrollment numbers from the 2022-2023 school year, Mineola would be spending $38,140.11 per pupil according to the proposed budget.

Included in the budget is a $4 million transfer to the capital reserve fund for fire safety upgrades at Jackson Avenue School and Mineola Middle School, a new public address system at the middle school, districtwide roof and HVAC repairs.

State aid amounts to $13.8 million, a $2.75 million, or 24.9% increase from the current year’s state aid of $11.05 million. 

At this time, the district has about $8.5 million in the budget for capital projects.

Trustees said during the March 21 board of education meeting the current middle school project at the gymnasium will be completed for $8 million instead of the previous estimate of $8.5 million.

The remaining $500,000 would be used for the Synergy Building cafe and parking lot project, which began on March 17.

Educational highlights include expanding the district’s technology program and beginning the phase-in of dual language stand-alone curriculum for primary grades. 

Voting for the Mineola School District will take place at the Synergy Building at 2400 Jericho Turnpike from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.