The Eastport South Manor School Board completed a planned termination of 24 staff members by giving pink slips to two administrators last week—in total, cutting 24.5 positions within the district to help balance next year’s $82.6 million budget.
The expected termination of the two administrators—Ellen Fantauzzi, the English department chairwoman and Lawrence Puccio, the science department chairman—saved the district nearly $260,000. In total, the elimination of the 24.5 positions will save the district $2.1 million next year, according to the Assistant Superintendent for Business Richard Snyder.
Superintendent of Schools Mark A. Nocero presented the Board of Education’s adopted budget at a board meeting on Wednesday, May 4, to a significantly smaller crowd than has filled the junior-senior high school cafeteria in recent weeks to voice their opinions on the spending plan.
Parents and teachers sat solemnly as Mr. Nocero explained the school’s dire financial state, noting that the district may have to cut nearly $10 million in spending over the next five years.
Mr. Nocero said that he was unsure where any further cuts could come from, noting that with the possibility of Governor Cuomo’s proposed 2-percent property tax cap being enacted and further expensive state mandates, he feared that administrators would look back on the 2011-2012 school year as a “good budget year.”
The proposed $82.6 million budget for next year represents a $3.2 million increase from last year’s $79.4 million spending plan, or 4.09 percent, according to Mr. Snyder.
If adopted, the budget includes a 5-percent tax rate increase that accounts for a rate of $19.52 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for Southampton Town residents living within the district. This year, residents in Southampton paid $18.59 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. For the average home in Southampton assessed at $450,000 the increase represents a nearly $400 tax hike from $8,384 this year to $8,784 next year.
For Brookhaven residents, next year’s projected tax rate is $227.02 per $100 of assessed valuation. This represents an $11 increase from this year’s rate of $216.02 per $100 of assessed valuation. The increase accounts for an additional $385 in school taxes next year, up from $7,560 this year to $7,945 next year.
Mr. Snyder said that early indications reveal that the assessed values of homes in Southampton Town is expected to drop.
Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Christopher Marzuk told board members at the meeting that he was beginning to organize a dedication ceremony for the district’s September 11 memorial, set for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in 2001.
The board agreed to hold the dedication and memorial ceremony on Sunday, September 11, at 1 p.m. at the junior-senior high school. A number of local elected officials will be invited to the event, according to Mr. Marzuk.
The administrator—who was working as an assistant district attorney in lower Manhattan at the time of the September 11 attacks—was instrumental in securing a large steel beam from the World Trade Center that will be part of a memorial in front of the Manorville school.
Mr. Marzuk picked up the 12-foot-long piece of steel from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey—which has been distributing artifacts from the September 11 attacks—last December. He said that work is to begin on the memorial soon, noting that he hopes to get local residents and students involved in its construction.
Laura Cooper on May 11, 2011