Northport-East Northport board reviews preliminary 2025–26 budget, five-year facilities plan
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Summary
Superintendent Dr. Moyer and the district business official presented a preliminary 2025–26 budget, five-year financial projection and a draft master facilities plan, flagging a $726,000 first-year projected deficit, a growing multi-year shortfall, renewed capital needs and potential revenue from property leases.
The Northport-East Northport Union Free School District on Jan. 23 presented a preliminary 2025–26 budget plan and a five-year facilities and capital strategy that projects a modest first-year operating deficit and identifies hundreds of capital projects the district may need to fund.
"This is a very preliminary draft planning document that will be refined over the next several months," Superintendent Dr. Moyer said, opening the budget presentation before the full Board of Education.
The presentation from the district's business official (Bob/Mr. Howard) placed salary and benefits as the district's largest recurring cost and noted that roughly three-quarters of district expenditures are for personnel. Howard said contractual and inflation-sensitive lines — insurance, transportation contracts and some supply categories — have driven recent increases even as total salary costs showed only modest growth over the past five years.
Why it matters: The board must adopt a legally balanced budget by April; the district faces uncertain final state aid numbers because New York's executive budget proposal and final state action may arrive after the board's budget timeline. The administration asked the board to consider capital funding options, including pay-as-you-go appropriations, the district's voter-authorized capital reserve and a possible bond referendum.
Key facts and figures presented - The administration estimates a first-year operating deficit of $726,000 for 2025–26 under its assumptions; multi-year projections show the deficit growing to roughly $2.2 million and to about $4.5 million farther out if assumptions hold. - The district currently budgets an interfund transfer (general fund to capital) of about $3.9 million in the annual budget to support capital work. - Outstanding district debt reported was just over $44 million, with annual debt service of about $4 million, which the presentation said is roughly 2.11% of the general fund budget. - The business official said the district has a multi-hundred-item facilities list drawn from the state-required building condition survey and local input; that list includes work carried forward from a prior bond and new needs added since then. - Lease revenue: the board heard a three-year phased-in lease payment schedule for Bellerose (Variety Child Learning Services) starting about $267,000 in year one with annual 3% escalators; Dickinson Avenue lease revenue is not included because no multi-year contract is in place. - State aid: the administration framed the governor's executive budget proposal as providing a modest foundation-aid increase but cautioned that line items in the executive proposal can be presented in ways that do not translate to new general‑fund revenue. The district's budget-to-budget general fund increase shown in the presentation was approximately $41,000 (about 0.2%). - Other assumptions noted: a planning assumption of 0% state aid growth for projections, a 2% annual tax levy assumption for planning, estimated BOCES tuition growth around 3.5% and a projected modest decline in the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) employer rate from about 10.11% toward the 9.5% range.
Board discussion and follow-up requests Trustees asked for more granular material: an itemized breakdown of the five-year master facilities plan by building, clarification on the lease schedules and whether lease revenue would be dedicated to capital. Trustees pressed for staffing trend data and said they want a clear community engagement plan before any major capital referendum. The board's long-range financial planning committee recommended reinvesting building lease income into property maintenance rather than using it for general operations.
Next steps The board scheduled further budget workshops and special meetings in February and March to refine assumptions and staffing proposals; a final staffing recommendation is expected at the March 27 meeting. Administration staff said they will continue to refine projections as the state aid picture becomes clearer and will provide the board with the detailed draft of the five-year facility plan for review.
Ending Administrators emphasized the preliminary nature of the presentation and asked the board and the public to treat the materials as a working document subject to change as state aid, staffing proposals and other assumptions are updated.
