Budget talks: BOE focuses on buildings and grounds, transportation, and security in first of four detailed budget presentations

The Northport-East Northport UFSD Board of Education’s first substantive discussion of the 2022-2023 budget, beginning with the topics of “Building and Grounds, Transportation, and Security,” occurred Thursday, March 3, just one day after a school mask mandate was dropped by the state. The meeting marked what will be a months-long conversation about the 2022-2023 budget, with follow-up meetings scheduled weekly in March, and continuing through April, leading up to the May 17 budget vote.

As detailed in Draft One of the 2022-2023 proposed budget, matters listed under Buildings and Grounds will experience a roughly $67,000 increase in appropriated funds as compared to 2021-2022’s allocations. Operation of the district’s infrastructure (natural gas, oil, water and various other utilities) account for the largest percentage of this increase due to growing utility costs. As Mr. Robert Howard, Assistant Superintendent for Business explained, “Budgeting flat in that area [utilities] is not prudent. We are trying to adjust to the new utility rates. We are currently seeing about a 50% increase in a lot of our utility costs.”

Besides these adjustments, funds will be going to the purchase of a four-foot blade snowblower for East Northport Middle School and various water fountain upgrades to better accommodate filtered and refrigerated water around the district. As well, a renovation of the high school’s courtyard is being planned, specifically what is known as the “Little Commons Courtyard,” a small tract of land that the district believes could be remade into an outdoor eating space for students, which is currently being used for very little.

In matters of Security, overall allocations within the proposed budget will decrease by a factor of roughly $95,000 from last year’s budget to the present. As was explained, the decrease in funds does not represent a depressed emphasis in matters of security; instead, many of the payments last year which inflated the security budget were one-time expenditures that do not need current allocation.

Infrastructure to be implemented this year will focus mainly on matters of lockdown security. For example, the district is proposing to install “blue light notifications” in both middle schools (as is already present in the high school) which alert “those who are arriving after a lockdown announcement has been made” to stay away from the premises. The installation of emergency access keypads for law enforcement is also being planned in the event of a lockdown. These measures are being discussed so that “you don’t have to do a whole lot of thinking in the event of a lockdown,” said Mr. Howard.

Staff security training is also being tossed about, specifically in the fields of “de-escalation and threat assessment training.” As was stressed, “there is nothing more important than a well-trained staff” in the event of an emergency.

As for Transportation, the 2022-2023 budget proposes an increase of roughly $807,000 over last year’s budget (a 10.3% growth). The increase was explained as such: “These increased costs are primarily for increased rates for our bus contractor, as well as an increase in vehicle cost.”

The Transportation department also proposed two initiatives to be considered by the public: attempts to recruit more bus drivers and research into electric school buses. The department is in an ongoing process of looking into electric school buses, going to product demonstrations, state conferences, and vendors, district officials said. As well, ever since the bus driver shortage began pre-pandemic, the department will continue to attempt to recruit more bus drivers for their services, because, as was put, the “driver shortage is hurting us all.”

A number of capital projects were also proposed. The primary project would be the replacement of roofs over the district’s schools; as Mr. Howard explained, if roofs are not fixed and replaced district-wide, there could be instances of “property damage and air quality issues.” A notable policy lauded by Trustee David Badanes was the proposed installation of solar panels that would come in tandem with the roof replacement. Such capital projects would be funded with a mixture of both general fund appropriations and capital reserves funds. The latter needs an affirmative referendum by the public to be implemented in the proposed capital projects.

The next Board of Education meeting takes place March 10, when the proposed budget will be discussed with reference to “Instruction, Technology, BOCES, and Special Education.”