Mineola board hears detailed briefing on PILOT revenue, long‑term budget risk and reserve plan

Superintendent Michael Nagel told the Mineola Union Free School District Board of Education on Sept. 18 that payments‑in‑lieu‑of‑taxes, or PILOTs, are a material non‑tax revenue stream for the district but also a long‑term budget risk if multiple PILOT schedules end in the same years.

Nagel said the district currently receives roughly $3.8 million a year in PILOT revenue as part of a broader revenue package that supplements the tax levy and state aid for the district’s $112 million budget. He told the board that those PILOT dollars are cash outside the tax levy and therefore do not directly increase the school tax‑levy cap calculation.

The superintendent said the district’s approach is to account for PILOT receipts in the budget but to treat those funds as one‑timeable capital resources: “We want to keep it in the budget, and at the end of the year treat…