West Babylon School officials discussed the fourth draft of a proposed new spending plan for the 200607 school year in an on going process to come up with a “palatable” tax rate for residents, said Superintendent of Schools Melvin Noble.

“We are currently looking at $4.2 million increase, budget to budget, which would leave us with an astronomical tax-rate increase,” Noble told the board at a meeting February 7. “And I think we can all agree that we do not have the gaul to go to the public (with this kind of an increase) especially after last year’s experience, so we have some challenges ahead of us.”

Those challenges include not only looking for ways to reduce the budget, and in turn the proposed taxrate increase, but also to impress upon state lawmakers the need to increase state aid to local Long Island School districts. West Babylon currently is reimbursed at a rate of 32 percent of its budget, a reduction of approximtely 8 percent from ten years ago. In addition it ranks the 16th lowest in combined wealth ratio of the 69 school districts in Suffolk.

Combined wealth ratio is one of the variables used in Albany to determine what portion of the entire school aid package a school district should receive. It measures a district’s fiscal capactiy based on income and actual value. The state average is at 1.0. West Babylon is at .87.

“This is one part of a very complicated formula that very few people understand and that does not speak to the realities we face here on Long Island,” said Noble. “Our local representatives are doing everything they can and listening to us but there is reluctance in Albany to address the regional cost index that addresses the high cost of living on Long Island.”

In addition, a change in the reimbursement structure for transportation has had a negative impact on the local tax dollar, said Noble. Previously, the state paid its share of transportation costs at the end of the year. As a result of that change, that revenue is paid out to the districts over several years. “In effect, it has no positive impact on our revenue,” said Noble.

School districts, as well as all other public entities, have saved money to date on snow removal as a result of warmer weather, but the district’s Superintendent of Business and Finance Anthony Carracio, said that the district’s electric rates, like those of every utility user, have increased dramatically, offsetting most of those savings. Last year, West Babylon paid $507,000 for electricity. As of mid-January this year, the district has paid more than $340,000, with the traditionally high summer months still ahead.

As a result, the district is continuing to look into ways of saving on its electricity costs and is considering several options including installing motion detectors to turn lights on and off and energy effeciency contracts.

The district’s current budget is at $76,857,457, and the latest draft has it at $81,122,180, which would translate into a 9.8 percent tax rate increase, something the board said was unacceptable.

State figures show that the state has increased its school aid by 76 percent over the past decade. In Sen. Owen Johnson’s district alone, which includes West Babylon, that has meant that $260 million more has gone to schools here.

In West Babylon the increase in the past decade has been 61 percent, with a budget increase over the same time period of 59 percent.

But Noble said that while local lawmakers fight very hard to bring a more equitable share of the state’s school dollars to Long Island, other factors offset those increases. The additional money includes what the state offers to property owners under the STAR program for senior citizens, a cost that picked up by every other property owner.

“While this is well intentioned money designed to protect our seniors, it has an impact on all other property owners,” said Noble. “And the cost to local schools for unfunded mandates has now become not only a problem on the state level but the federal level as well.” And, he adds, when you include the huge increases school district have had to absorb for the state’s pension fund costs and health care, the increases in aid are more than eaten up by “givens” said Noble.

“Undoubtedly, we have our work cut out for us,” said School Board President Lucy Campasano. “But the public can be assured that we will do everything we can to cut costs and preserve programs.”