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Syosset budget preview: 2.52% preliminary tax-cap, rising insurance and transportation costs cited
Summary
Associate Superintendent Doctor Bridal presented the district’s first look at the 2025–26 budget, showing a preliminary tax-cap of 2.52%, a roughly $700,000 increase in state aid, and continuing pressure from insurance, pensions, transportation and enrollment shifts.
Doctor Bridal, the associate superintendent for business services, presented the Syosset Central School District’s first look at the 2025–26 budget on the board’s meeting night, saying the district will submit a preliminary tax-cap and levy on March 1 and then continue work before the May 20 budget vote.
Bridal said the preliminary tax-cap for the district is 2.52% and that preliminary state-aid estimates show about a $700,000 increase (roughly 2.8%). “We are still dealing with inflationary pressures,” Bridal said, noting health insurance and pension costs remain major upward pressures on the budget. She added the district saw some relief this year on health insurance rates but projects insurance increases to continue.
The presentation emphasized several cost drivers. Bridal told the board that transportation is a significant area of concern: the district’s contractor has signaled it will not renew at CPI, prompting a new request for proposals. “In the world of school transportation…there’s not a lot of players in the market,” Bridal said, warning that RFPs often return few bidders and sometimes higher prices.
Bridal also reviewed capital and administrative components: draft capital-code spending rose about $425,000 (1.3%), driven mostly by contractual salary adjustments and overtime tied to capital work; administration rose about 4.7%, largely from liability insurance (an 18% escalation was forecast) and increased technology/software expenses. Central data processing is up about 10% for planned purchases through BOCES, including software licensing and transportation routing upgrades.
Board members pressed for detail. Mr. Greco asked whether the unallocated insurance line covered “all of our risk insurance across the board,” and Bridal confirmed it did. Ms. Dostrick asked about overtime and the ability to scale custodial and maintenance overtime down if bond work or contractor schedules changed; Bridal said numbers and timelines can be adjusted and that staff sometimes performs smaller projects in-house when cost-effective. Several board members pressed on the transportation routing software and timeline; Bridal said the planned upgrade aims to deliver more real-time GPS data, parent-facing app features and, eventually, on-bus attendance capability.
Bridal outlined capital project placeholders including tennis courts, secondary auditorium sound and lighting upgrades, ADA staff-bathroom renovations, security upgrades, smaller districtwide electrical/plumbing/HVAC projects and a turf field renovation. She also noted tax-anticipation note expenses will decline modestly due to lower interest rates.
The board was told further budget work will continue in subsequent meetings (the next budget presentation will cover program and benefits and is scheduled for March 10). Bridal said the district will likely use reserves again to offset benefit increases and that updates to line items and even the tax-cap estimate are possible as state and local figures firm up.
Ending: The presentation set a preliminary fiscal direction ahead of the district’s public budget hearings and the May 20 vote; district staff will return with program and benefits detail at future meetings and make adjustments as needed before the official budget adoption process concludes.
