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Massapequa proposes 3.2% budget increase; levy to rise 2.9% and voters to consider $4 million capital-reserve withdrawal
Summary
At a public budget hearing, district officials presented a proposed 2025–26 spending plan that would raise the district budget by 3.2% with a 2.9% tax levy increase, and asked voters to approve three propositions including a $4 million withdrawal from the capital reserve for building projects that officials said will not raise taxes.
The Massapequa Union Free School District opened a public budget hearing presenting a proposed 2025–26 budget that district staff said represents a 3.2% budget-to-budget increase and a corresponding tax levy increase of 2.9%, which the district reported is $342,000 below the local tax-levy limit.
The proposed plan will appear on the ballot as Proposition 1 (the district budget). Proposition 2 would fund the public library, and Proposition 3 would authorize the district to expend about $4,000,000 from its capital reserve fund. District presenters told the board the reserve expenditure would not affect the tax levy because the money is already held in district reserves.
District officials described the planned reserve-funded work as a mix of infrastructure and facility upgrades: lighting for the softball field, HVAC upgrades at the district office, asbestos abatement in the Ames High School basement, window replacements at McKenna, audiovisual upgrades in the auditoriums and interior renovations to classrooms including science and art spaces. Officials noted those projects are funded from previously accumulated reserves rather than new borrowing, which the district said avoids adding debt-service costs to future budgets.
State aid figures were updated during the hearing. The district said the morning’s state aid run showed total state aid of $47,390,000 — roughly in line with the district’s prior projection and about $4,000 different from the number in the adopted public notice. Officials cautioned the district’s internal, more recent cost estimates (for example, BOCES expenditures and transportation aid) may differ from state-run figures.
Board members approved procedural motions to open and then close the budget hearing. District staff encouraged community engagement ahead of the vote and reminded residents that the public vote is scheduled for May 20. No additional changes to the revenue side of the budget were proposed at the hearing.
Members of the public and board praised the number and range of presentations the district has given to PTAs and faculty in advance of the vote and were urged to participate in the May 20 election.
