New Hyde Park School Board Members React to Tax Cap

The recent passage of the tax cap could be crippling for New Hyde Park without mandate relief, locals say.

school board member and board member David Del Santo said that the two percent cap is a start but without the mandate relief, this is incomplete legislation.

"I am very disappointed that mandate relief was not included in the legislation," Del Santo said.

Mandate relief would remove items such as teachers' retirement benefits. Teachers' retirement benefits and employee retirement benefits in both the Sewanhaka and NHP-GCP school districts went up more than two percent themselves.

Being able to take something like the teachers' retirement benefits out of the district's hands might be difficult to obtain. While the Sewanhaka district teachers all gave up their scheduled this upcoming school year, which saved the district approximately $2 million, the vote to give up those raises only narrowly passed, Del Santo said.

He is also concerned about the super majority of 60 percent that is needed if a school district decides to go over the two percent cap. The by a margin of about 59 percent, Del Santo recalled. He also feels that the 60 percent majority takes away from a democracy and makes votes carry different weights.

NHP-GCP newly-elected board member noted that, "I haven't fully digested the tax cap yet, but I do not believe it is a good idea for school districts... However, we will work it out somehow."

Sewanhaka and NHP-GCP board member Joan Romagnoli thought that the tax cap would not have too big of an impact on this district, which is already known as one of the most frugal on Long Island.

"We'll reign in a little more," Romagnoli said.