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Lindenhurst School District puts bond up for vote The Lindenhurst School District will be asking voters to approve a $7.6 million bond referendum Wednesday, November 15 to complete improvements throughout the district, including those in the area of technology, health and safety projects, expansion and energy projects. The district is eligible for $2.3 million in EXCEL funding, which state lawmakers included in this year's budget to help districts complete improvements to their facilities without having to raise taxes locally. In addition to that, however, Lindenhurst wants to borrow an additional $5.3 million to give it a total of $7.6 million in revenue to apply to capital improvement projects throughout the district. Proposed building improvements include interior reconstruction and alteration to various buildings, replacement of doors, improvements to communication, fire, safety, security, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; installation of roof-mounted solar panel systems; building, roof and exterior improvements and the construction of athletic and field improvements. The impact of that borrowing on the current tax rate will be minimal, said school officials, since the district will receive 69.3 percent in building aid from the state, or $5.24 million of the total costof the project. When that is combined with the $2.3 EXCEL funds, the state will be picking up $7.54 million of the cost of the work. Residents will pay for the interest on the bonds until they mature, pointed out Superintendent of Schools Neil Lederer. However, the district plans to bank the money it borrows until it is needed to pay for the work once completed. During the interim, the funds will generate interest. In addition, a portion of the project includes the installation of solar panels and the district anticipates receiving $350,000 in rebates from LIPA, which will also be used to offset the cost of paying the principal and interest on the bonds. "While we cannot predict how much interest the money will raise nor that it will be enough to completely offset the bonding costs, this plan allows us to do millions of dollars in repairs and address health and safety issues with little or no impact on local taxpayers and the state picking up almost all of the costs," said Lederer."W e had discussed the possibility of borrowing more to do more but that would have meant a tax rate increase and we did not want to do that." The polls will be open on Wednesday, Nov. 15 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. There are five locations throughout the district: Lindenhurst Middle School, 350 South Wellwood Ave; Albany Avenue Elementary School, 180 Albany Avenue; William Rall Elementary School, 761 North Wellwood Ave; E.W., Bower Elementary School, 315, West Montauk Highway and Daniel Street Elementary School, 289 Daniel Street.
For a list of projects, readers can go to: www.lindenhurstschools.org.
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