Trustees Vote Down BOCES Administrative Budget
The Huntington School Board voted 4-0 to reject the proposed Western Suffolk BOCES administrative budget. Trustees took the action at a morning public meeting on Thursday, April 28.
The BOCES budget and trustee election were the only items on the agenda. Trustees Kim Brown, Bill Dwyer, Rich McGrath and Emily Rogan discussed the budget in public for about 10 minutes before voting.
The Huntington trustees also voted 4-0 to re-elect current Western Suffolk BOCES trustees Jeannette Santos and Peter Wunsch to new three-year terms.
The 18 Western Suffolk BOCES component districts passed the budget, 16-2. Huntington was joined in voting down the BOCES budget by the Kings Park School Board, which rejected the plan in a 5-0 vote.
Huntington School Board members recently completed a grueling process culminating in the adoption of a proposed 2011/12 budget that limits the year-to-year spending increase to $250,762 or 0.23 percent. To contain spending and taxes more than $5.7 million in reductions were made, leading to the elimination of 96.4 full-time equivalent positions in the district, including more than 40 teaching posts.
The Western Suffolk BOCES budget (including post-retirement benefits) for central administration will increase $665,299 from $10,413,174 to $11,078,473 or 6.4 percent. Central administration post-retirement benefits will go from $5,802,301 to $6,477,664. According to a BOCES newsletter, the cost of these benefits "are funded from program budgets in current/prior years."
Huntington's share of Western Suffolk BOCES' administrative charges will increase from $166,443 to $172,273 or $5,830. The district's share of BOCES capital spending will go from $119,055 to $121,861.