Mineola Board of Ed Approves Bond Vote for Jackson Avenue School

Coming off what can be described as an , the Mineola Board of Education began their meeting Thursday night at the with the intention of holding a second bond vote with two propositions - one to bond $4.4 million to add space to the , and the second to bond $1.7 million to expand the , which was conditional on the measure for Jackson passing. By the end of the night, the board decided to scrap the second proposal, and pay for the expansion of the Hampton Street School out of its own pocket.

"I think the last bond failed due to the multiple moving pieces involved in the proposed ," Trustee William Hornberger said, proposing that the district use $1.7 million from the undesignated fund balance to fund the construction on Hampton without a bond. The move would  make Hampton the pre-K through second grade school for children South of Jericho Turnpike. Hornberger added that in his view it "corrects the mistake of building (Willis Avenue), I don't believe that Willis is the appropriate place for pre-K through second grade."

In order to complete such a move, the board would have to establish a separate capital reserve fund, then pass a resolution to begin the construction at Hampton using that capital reserve fund, then allow the community to vote whether to spend the money that is in the reserve. The earliest the community could vote on that issue would be the annual May budget vote. However, the board can not fund the capital reserve and spend it in the same school year, forcing a delay until July.  Attorneys for the district pointed out that the budget vote ends up being tied to the Hampton project.

"If you go down that road, and the budget fails then you have to fund the reserve anyway and vote at a later date to spend it," Nagler said.

While the budget would increase, the tax levy would not, "since you already have the money" Nagler said.

"But, your reserve fund will then go down." The reserve fund is currently $1 million over the limit of four percent of the total budget allowed by state law according to the external auditor's report.  

"Hampton becomes the South school, yet we're not going to bond it, bottom line" board president Terrence Hale said. "If there's a way that we can do this through the budget and absorb it, I like the idea."

Nagler advocated for the second bond vote with the to propositions.

"The way this bond works out, it's going to be what we currently have in debt so your future budgets aren't going to change from the debt service," he said. "We're keeping us whole in our savings accounts. It's cheap money when you're bonding at impressive rates. You're taking that payment out and the money is there and you still have your savings."

The superintendent added that the vote allows the community to say if they "definitively" want Hampton instead of Willis Avenue if they vote 'no' - 'yes' on the two propositions, respectively, and the board could always fund the construction on the Hampton Street school directly if the bond fails.

"I don't think the community's going to support any bond," Trustee John McGrath said. "I was planning to vote 'no' on this bond proposition for that reason irrespective of the $1.7 million for Hampton or the $4.4 million for Jackson."

If Hampton Street and the  become the South and North schools, respectively, then the Willis Avenue and schools would close. The Willis Avenue building would continue to house the district offices.

"We need to push forward, we need to give direction to the community, we need to give direction to the front office so they can start the appropriate steps," Hornberger said. "If we're going to come to fruition on a September 2011 event we need to be able to say definitively what buildings are going to be open."

When asked about the budget ramifications of the move, Dr. Nagler said that the target levy for 2011-12 would still be around 2.5 percent, and due to the $1.7 million coming out of the budget the following year, "you'd probably have a negative budget when you close the second school."

The measure to place the $4.4 million bond vote for the Jackson Avenue School before voters was carried three-to-two, with Trustees Irene Parrino and McGrath voting against. The date of the bond vote is Feb. 8, 2011. The fate of the $1.7 million in reserve funds proposed for construction at the Hampton Street School will be determined during the budget process for the 2011-12 school year.