How are you? Does he? I'm supposed Come in. Happy Christmas. Hello everybody. How are we doing? That's our job. You Amen. You got the rules.
Go home right now. Good. We had a cake party. [Music] So, good evening. A little closer. Good evening everybody. I'd like to ask everybody to please
stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Just give us one second. Thank God you heard it. [Music] >> So, I know it's early in the school year, but uh this is something that we will uh become very proficient at doing as the school year uh continues to roll
along. This is our celebrating excellence uh event of the school year. And again, uh we do not have a very large turnout. I feel like it's uh the beginning part of the year and it's first period where you got a whole people that are sort of sleeping right now. But uh I see a couple of bright faces that we're going to recognize this
evening uh in the audience and and again over the school year we're going to have an opportunity to do this several times over where we recognize uh all forms of excellence uh excellence on the field, excellence in the classroom, u excellence in the in the auditoriums, right? Uh in our in our music areas. So
um I'm going to get started with this evening's presentation. The way that this will go is um again I'll announce whatever the topic is. I'll go through a little piece uh probably invite a couple of special guests up to join me uh for for each of those moments. We're going to read the kids' names who were successful in those respective areas. Um
at the end of that we're going to bring them forward for everybody to take a lot of pictures and embarrass uh the kids to the best of your ability. So please take advantage of that moment. Take lots of pictures. Uh board has a a beautiful card and a and a button um that they were able to pull together for the event. So, uh, again, should be a really
special evening. And again, for those of you that don't know, my name is Paul Defendini, the very proud superintendent here in Farmingdale schools. The first, uh, um, celebrating excellence moment that we're going to have for this evening is our National Merit Scholars. And I think I saw, uh, Miss Stillwell
and Mr. Herman. Could you please join me up here on stage? [Applause] Farmingdale High School is thrilled to celebrate the outstanding uh accomplishments of students in the 71st National Merit Scholarship Program.
Colin Ramos has advanced to the semifinals, an incredible honor that places him among the nation's top academic achievers. As a semi- finalist, he now has the exciting opportunity to continue in the competition for a national merit scholarship by showcasing
his exceptional academics, leadership, and accomplishments. Winners will be announced between April and July, and the school community will be cheering him on every step of the way. The district also proudly recognizes uh Christopher Cruciata, William Herbert,
Nicholas Zitto, and Anthony McKe as commended students. This honor places them among the top 50,000 students nationwide who excelled on the 2024 PSAT National Merit Scholarship qualifying test. While they may not be advancing to the semi-finalists, their remarkable
achievement reflects outstanding academic potential, putting them among some of the nation's brightest students, and we look forward to seeing their continued success for the remainder of this school year and in the years to come. Congratulations to you all. Your dedication and hard work make the Farmingdale community very very proud.
Uh if you're out in the audience, could you please join us up here? Uh we'll start with Colin Ramos. [Applause] >> Yeah, go up there. >> Congratulations. >> And SEM national semi-finalist
qualifiers. Christopher Cruciata, William Herbert, Nick Zto. >> So Nick and Anthony McKay. [Music] >> Picture sir. Thank you guys. Oh my god. Game changer.
>> Game changer. Anthony, >> Anthony, Nick, stay here. You're next. >> Stay right there. >> Right here. >> We're back.
[Music] And then where this actually all started, the name uh the namesake of this celebrating excellence actually started from uh the celebration that we've always had for our uh valadictorian and saludiatoran. Farm high school is proud to announce the validictorian and saludiatoran of the
class of 2026. Nicholas Zitto and Anthony McKe [Applause] both have shown remarkable dedication, leadership, and AC academic excellence
throughout their high school careers. Nicholas earned the distinction of aldiatoran by achieving the highest cumulative GPA among 426 students. While Anthony secured the saludiatoran honor with his outstanding academic achievements falling just below Mr.
Zitto. As valadictorian and saludiatoran, Nicholas and Anthony will deliver speeches at Farmingdale's graduation ceremony on June 16th, 2026 at Hostra University. They will also be honored along with their families at a celebratory breakfast hosted by the Nassau County
Council of School Superintendent joined by uh Mr. Herman and myself uh get a chance to go out to breakfast with all of the valadictorians and saludiatorans from across Long Island. Uh it is really an unbelievable morning where uh you just see some of the best and the brightest from around Long Island come
together for uh Nassau County come together uh for a very special morning. humbling uh when you're in a room full of people who are pretty much all collectively more intelligent than you are. Uh and that's what it is that we have up here on the stage. Farmdale School District congratulates Nick Zto and Anthony McKe on this extraordinary
achievement. Their commitment to excellence exemplifies the very best of our students and we are proud to celebrate their accomplishments. I look forward to doing this on a hundred more occasions over the course of the upcoming school year because there will certainly be more times where we could celebrate the two of you and your incredible achievement. Congratulations
to Nick and to Anthony. >> Absolutely. >> Picture. >> Second pen. >> They get two pins. They earned them. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Herman. Thank you, Miss Stillwell. I'm gonna ask Mr. Wikowski to
join me up on stage for this next very special award. The New York State School Music Association, NISMA, has announced that 11 exceptional musicians from Farmingdale High School have been chosen to perform at the esteemed 2025 NISMA
Winter Conference. In addition, two students have been selected as alternates, highlighting the excellence of the district's music program and its continued recognition throughout the state. The all state musicians are considered the cream of the crop and are selected through a very rigorous
audition process that includes solo evaluations. The selected Farmingdale musicians in a diverse range of instrumentalists and vocalists reflecting our school's comprehensive music curriculum. Their hard work, dedication, and passion for music have earned them this distinguished
opportunity, and they are eager to represent their school and community at this upcoming conference. Congratulations to all these outstanding musicians. Your talent, your discipline, your passion for music. Bring pride and inspiration to the in entire Farmingale
family. I'm going to invite Mr. Morikowski to come up and read the names of the students that were selected for All State uh 2025. >> Thank you very much. It truly is. I I have so much admiration for our students who go to NISMA,
practice so hard to achieve such a high level, but to be able to get that 100 perfect score, it's not easy to do. But just so everybody understands, when you make all state or you make all state alternate, it's not just that 100. Many
students across Long Island and New York State get a hundred and they still don't make all state. It's that competitive. So to see how many students here from Farmingdale make it and actually get to go to Rochester to All State is just an
incredible achievement. And some of our students made it into three groups. Some into two groups, some into three groups. It's just exceptional here in Farmingdale. So congratulations to all of them. So I'm going to announce their names and invite them all to come
forward. First is Jackson Deffendee. takes after his mother. >> Congratulations, Jackson. >> Peter Espazito, some of them could not make it tonight. Some are also athletes and involved in other conflicts that they had. So we
want to applaud for all of them equally. Nicholas Solski, [Applause] William Herbert, [Applause]
Dylan Meritz, Christopher Cashada, Leo Scardina, Ashley Betts. We're gonna get one soon. Kaylee Murphy. >> We're getting there. Hey, Kaylee, Danchi Aurora, and Grace Stabil,
and Sarah Soul, and Leah Fredonis. Okay. Did I get everybody's name? Yes. I miss anybody? >> All right. Congratulations to all of our All State students. Thank you, Mr. Dean.
Can I have uh my team up here? Oh, yeah. You [Music] So, some of you may not know uh and this is the last award of this evening. So, um thank you for staying with us. Uh the New York State School Boards Association recognized October 13th to 17th as
school board recognition week, a time to honor the vital role our school local school boards play in our communities. Public schools form the bedrock of our communities and our country. And democracy thrives when citizens are educated, capable of critical thinking, and engaged in civil discourse. It is
our local school boards who make all of this possible, guiding and supporting student success at every step of the way. During this week, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the members of our local school board. Your dedication, vision, and tireless commitment ensure that every student has the opportunity
to learn, to grow, and to thrive. Your leadership not only strengthens our schools but also is the very future for our community. Thank you for champion championing excellence in education and for making a lasting difference in the lives of our students. On a personal
note as a superintendent uh where this stuff gets very very complicated at times and sometimes the job could be made to feel thankless. I assure you it is not a thankless job. You are thanked by the many. Uh we have tremendous gratitude for the work that you put in,
for the tireless amounts of donated time, right? This is a non-paid position in which case you just give of your time willingly uh to try to do the right thing by kids at every turn. And u one heartfelt superintendent to you, I thank you very much. I know my team feels uh the same way with regard to the support and the collaboration even during the
difficult times and the difficult conversations we have. Uh there's still that sense of respect and rapport uh that we've gotten to know uh getting to know you guys. So again, just thank you very much for being who you are. uh we're celebrating you tonight. We're going to actually do something a little more formal at the November meeting. Uh during the week of October 13th to the
18th, we have some of our kids uh and again, this is truly uh an organic process uh are going to be pulling some things together for you and and they'll join you at the November meeting to present them to uh you themselves. So, uh more to come in November, but for now, thank you very much for everything that you do with the upcoming uh school
board recognition uh upon us. Congratulations. [Applause] Thanks. No, no, no. >> Anyone good with the camera out there?
>> There you go. Thank you, Mr. Stillwell. A lot just happened like this. A lot just happened. Oh. [Applause] And again, if history repeats itself, I have a strange feeling we're going to be seeing a lot of the same students that
were up on stage tonight a few more times throughout the school year. So, uh, again, this concludes this evening's celebrating excellence event, and I, uh, welcome you to hopefully a future one when you're going to be celebrated for some other great thing, uh, that you're going to be doing because it seems to be the case that our students are pretty wellrounded and they seem to pull things
off in a lot of different ways. So, uh, see you real soon. Have a safe night home tonight, folks. And, uh, take good care. Bye-bye. Good evening. Good evening everyone and welcome to this evening's meeting of the board of education. The board of education is interested in encouraging members of the public to
share their ideas, comments and questions. Public participation opportunities will be available at the beginning and end of this meeting. And as stated in board policy, no person shall speak for more than three minutes. And each period of public participation
will be limited to 30 minutes. If you have any questions or concerns regarding matters on the consent agenda through the items for discussion, it may be important for you to utilize the first public participation opportunity. You may also send your feedback and
questions to us through our email account at be@farmingdalechools.org. The board expects members of the public to speak in a respectful and courteous manner as students are typically present for our meetings. Comments related to specific personnel matters or regarding
a specific student should be made pursuant to board policies 1400 and 1440 and are otherwise not permitted to be made during public session. Questions and comments will be shared with members of the central administrative team who
will be who will respond in a timely fashion. Persons appearing before the board of education are reminded as a point of information that board members are without authority to act independently as individuals in official matters. Thus, although questions may be
directed to the entire board or to an individual board member, answers may be deferred pending consideration by the board or for further discussion with central administration. As always, we thank you for your anticipated courtesy and cooperation. In
the event of fire and or if you hear the firebell, you must leave the building. The nearest exit is in the rear of this auditorium. Please stand now for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Good evening, Mr. Defendini. May we have or do we have any old business to address this evening? >> Uh, yes, we do. We have a few uh old business items that are on the uh agenda that came up at the last meeting. Uh the
first one has to do with a transportation request at Northside that came up last month. I know Mr. Motesi, Mr. Medina as well as myself to a degree have been working um uh to get a little bit more information connected to this. I'll turn it over to Mr. Motis who can share uh some of what he has discovered
and then entertained a conversation with the board about some possible next steps. >> Thank you Mr. Danini. Uh yeah, so as Paul had mentioned the the request did come to the board at the last month's meeting. Um I believe there was a petition that was presented signed by a
couple of parents uh residing in the north side area that were requesting for a uh study to be done or that a designation to be made to a um ch for a child safety zone along Melville Road. So, what a child safety zone is is it's
a it's a section of the law um regarding pupil transportation for schools where if there's a hazardous condition um that it could be deemed a child safety zone and and an exception may be able to be made to the uh mileage limits that the voters have approved for transportation
within a school district. So, as an example here in Farmingdale, um let me just pull it up for you a second. We we transport for a half mile and for a mile for elementaryaries. Um and then
a mile for uh 6 to 12. So that's the mileage limit that the voters approved many many years ago. So if you live more than a half mile from an elementary school, you're eligible for transportation. For uh 6 to 12, it's one mile. Those are those are in excess of the state limits, which are actually 2
miles and three miles. So that's why it's required to have a voter approval on that. The exception to that is when you have something known as the child safety zone. So in Farmingdale, there is a child safety zone. There's actually two child safety zones. One is down by Albany Avenue with a crossing over of
the Southern State Parkway. Um and the other one is along the uh the train tracks over here in the north side area when you're going from uh heading from north side down to Howitt. So both of those were deemed child safety zones, making that anyone eligible, anyone who
is not eligible for transportation now would become eligible for transportation based on a voter referendum that was presented um to uh to the public after the study was done in those two areas. So um over the last few weeks since the
September meeting, we've um Mark and I have been working with closely with our legal council. We've been talking with the state. Uh I did call a few districts that recently did this um because it's been a long time since this has happened in Farmingdale and Mark and I have never
been a partner uh a part of that in in this district. So uh we did what we we found out what we could find out um and I'm going to give you the lowdown on all of that right now. So basically there's two options. There's um a petition could
be presented to the board in which case the board would be required to have a child uh safety zone study done for a certain area. The petition would have to meet 5% of the voters from the previous budget vote. So 5% of whatever the
number was that showed up in May would have a petition with that amount of signatures would need to be presented to the board and then the board would be would be required to have this study conducted. The other option is if the board feels that there is something here that warrants a child safety zone study,
the board can then we can have a discussion tonight about directing the district to have that study performed. The study would be conducted by an independent contractor. Um the independent contractor would go off of a point system. Um it's a multipleday
study. They would come down here. Um he's actually he's from upstate somewhere. I did I did get somebody's name. they recently did in another school district. He performed the study and found that there it was in fact a child safety zone. They did put it before the public for a vote and it was
passed. Um approximate cost right now, I'm estimating about $10,000 to have the study done with all the travel costs and all of that. Um that's based on the figures um that the other school district had um explained to me. Over those three days, the the study will
conduct uh they will look at traffic flow, they'll look at frequency, they'll look at speeds, they'll look at posted um speed signs, uh sidewalks, lights, etc. That all goes into the study. If the study is found to be a child safety zone, it then goes in two directions.
Number one, depending on how many students that would impact, we would we may need to add additional buses into service in order to provide that sort of transportation. If it were to come at an additional cost to the district, we would need to present it before the
voters at the May budget vote um in order to pass the child safety zone. if it does not come at an additional cost to the district, it can be effective almost immediately as soon as we can figure out the bus routes for it.
So, um the first part of this um really is do we want to move forward with this study? After making that decision, we would then have the study conducted. We would contract with this with this professional to have the work done and then we would have to make the determination of whether or not he would
make the determination as to whether or not this is a child safety zone. Once that determination is made, then we would have to see how many students are implicated by this um this child safety zone and whether or not it would come at an additional cost to the district in order to determine the next steps moving
forward. Um if there is no child safety zone designation, then there's no further action that's needed to be taken. Um it's really uh everything that I wanted to say tonight regarding what we found out and and the conversations that we've had. I'd be happy to answer any questions that the board has uh
regarding this situation or any other ones. >> Um I I have a question. Any It's might be hard to say, but any idea how long if we go ahead and um have this survey done, how long it might take?
>> Um it'll probably take me a couple of weeks to arrange for the him to come down. We'd have to get a purchase order in place. I'd have to see, you know, if I'm accurate on the thresholds, then I got to I have to look through my procurement practices to make sure that I get the all the all the applicable quotes, whether it's the sole source. I
I know he's not the only one that does it. So, I would most likely have to get a couple of quotes um on this service. And then, like I said, once you schedule him to come down here, it takes about 3 days for him to do the study and then probably a couple of weeks, a week or two to write the report, something like
that. So, you're probably a month or two out. And Mike, I think you might have just answered this, but if we opt to go forward with a child with the um child safety zone study, is there a time within which it must be completed altogether in order for you to make a recommendation or the person to make the
recommendation to us about whether or not it qualifies? >> No, I don't. There's no there's no time limit on that. It's just getting the study done. Yes. if if the if the petition was presented uh with the 5% of the voters signatures, then then there
would be a 30-day window um that we would be obligated to perform this in. >> But when he does the study, how long does he have before he has to send it back to us? Is >> there's there's no there's no uh >> Oh, >> no limit that I know of.
>> Okay. Thank you. And if they do find it to be a safety issue and you say um the referendum would would be based on whether there was an additional cost or not, that additional cost would be borne by if we needed another bus or what?
>> Yeah. The the additional cost would be busing. So if if we have to add buses into service above what we have right now, that would need to go before the voters in the community to say, "Yes, this is a child safety zone. we agree that this this hazard is is something that needs to get built into the budget
and yes, we approve this expense because now you're changing the mileage limit over there, >> right? And and what would what would determine a no cost option if we were to be to be able to amend a current bus route for an existing route? >> Yeah. So, like as an example, if we
don't know how many students or families this would this would impact. So, if you're if you're only going to be impacting one family, yeah, there might not be any additional cost. If we're going to be talking about 20 to 30 students, then we have to look at other options maybe. Again, I don't know the
answers yet because I don't know what the designation would be and the houses that would be impacted and and all that. Are there any other questions for Mr. Moti? Are there any objections um by the board to instruct the district to go forward
with the study to be done for the child safety zone on Melville Road? >> No. >> No. Okay. >> So, with no objections, Mike, we we authorize uh the district to go forward at this point with the study to be done to determine whether there is a child safety zone on Milville Road. >> No problem. Mr. Morales will move
forward with like I said, I do anticipate that it will be uh below the bidding threshold. So, this is something that I will work through work with our purchasing agent on and um hopefully by next month I will have an update as to where we are with that and how how we're progressing.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. We have uh just uh four more, but the other ones should be should be pretty quick. I think uh the breath of fresh air that we've all experienced within the last several months has been the addition of our exeicio student board members. Um, so we have a couple of responses to some of
the inquiries that they had brought up. I know I think Diana and Emily, you you both had a conversation with uh Mrs. Stillwell uh about the mini college fair. Again, great questions connected to that. I think they have another follow-up that they're going to offer uh as far as additional suggestions, but um the college fair, the mini fair um is
something that is scripted by an outside organization. Uh there's limited amounts of access that we have to make any amendments to the mini college fair because they schedule themselves very specifically at certain schools. So, no problem working with them and working through some of that stuff, but there were some limitations there. Um, great
question with regard to cell phones since we did go through our policy of um banning cell phones, you know, districtwide, which by the way has been a uh profoundly, I think, and kids might not agree, but uh beneficial circumstance for our schools. It's actually to the point where the other
day Mr. Herman and I were talking about getting some donations for board games uh in the cafeteria because kids are now actually taking to playing cards and you see little Uno games popping up and things of the sort. So uh a good problem to have where I think there's a little more face tof face communication than there was before it. But one of the things that came up was there are
certain academic circumstances where you have to have exceptions and we built that into the policy. If you remember when we built that policy last spring, we did include into the policy a provision that allows us the ability to give a teacher the, you know, the leeway to say no, no, no, they need it for academic purposes. So, we just needed to
make sure that we refreshed um, you know, everybody and everybody understands that, you know, for an example that was used was an art class, right? Where you need it in order to be able to take pictures to make sure that everybody knows that that is an exception that is allowable. Uh, and then the last two I think really had to
do more with special education. Mr. capacity. I believe you've been trying to hook up with uh and connect with uh Deanna and Emily, but struggling through our email server that's been causing some problems. >> Yeah, I think we got a work around. Hi, Deanna. So, I did hear back from Deanna. Um we're in the process of setting
something else uh meeting up with Dr. Balar, the uh chairperson at the middle school, and Mr. Gavales, who's the middle school chairperson, um principal, sorry, to talk about uh the idea of u supporting our ABA class. I know there were some questions about a playground.
So, we we touched base finally. So, thank you for your patience and we're going to be sending that up very soon. Thank you. >> And that's it for all business. >> Thank you to all for the information. We appreciate it. >> Mr. Definitely, since we're talking to you, may we have your monthly update now?
>> Yeah, absolutely. So, I'm going to I'm going to uh ask the board to I guess join us in the audience in just a minute. Um we have our annual We've been doing this again long before I started. I was watching Mr. Loren do it when he was the business official. uh 20 plus years ago the tax levy presentation uh
that's been a part of our culture here uh to explain to the community uh anyone that's at the board meeting and we're going to navigate a way to try to share this with the greater Farmingdale community because I think there's not a lot of people in the audience uh tonight but there's a lot of people that would probably be interested in how all of
this stuff works and and why things happen with regard to particular tax bills. Um, so we're going to work on on on coming up with a way of sort of sharing this more broadly uh after tonight's meeting. But I am going to ask the board to join uh the community in the audience. Mr. Motic is going to take
the stage and kind of talk you through exactly what transpired this year with regard to the way the taxes were aortioned after the budget was approved uh last spring. So again, just join us in the audience. Uh if the community could give us just a minute while we get ourselves set up, uh you'll be a part of the presentation as well uh once Mr.
Motisi gets himself set. All right. All right. Good evening. So, um, as Paul had mentioned, we're here to talk about the 2526, um, tax levy, voter approved tax levy, and the implications of the tax levy, um, and how how it, um, more more
importantly, how it's allocated to the residents. So this time of year I start to get phone calls from residents regarding their taxes, their property tax bills hit for the town of Oyster Bay in um in October. So I do get a lot of phone calls and my goal with each of those conversations is to explain what
the levy is and how it gets allocated to the homes. That's really our job. That's really our function. Um it's really all that I can provide. Um residents don't always like the answer that I give but but but they do understand usually at
the end of the conversation they are appreciative of the time that I spent with them to kind of explain it because it is complicated and it is further complicated here in Farmingdale because we have two taxing jurisdictions. Right? So we have Nassau and Suffach County. So I'm going to kind of try and walk through this. I'm going to throw some
terminology out there that may sound um new to some people. um may you may think you knew what it meant, but I'm going to explain that it might mean something else. So, um mo most importantly, I want to start with what is the tax levy? So,
the tax levy is what the voters approved for the district to levy, which means in May of 2025, the voters approved a 2.28% increase on our tax levy. Now, that tax levy does not always translate to 2.28%
28% on your tax bill. Your tax bill and the tax levy are two different things, but everybody always kind of thinks that they're the same. We're going to go into why that why it's different, but the tax levy is the necessary taxes to support
the programs here in Farmdale. Every school district has its own levy levy. Every municipality has its own levy. So the villages, the cities, the towns, they all have a levy and then that levy gets allocated differently to houses.
Some of the terminology you're going to hear tonight and and and you need to understand is um where this information is coming from. So tax rate factors, assessed values, base proportions, equalization rates, all of this and and
a little and a few more are what drive taxes to to individual homes. It's what drives your tax rate. It's what drives how much an individual house is going to pay or a property because it does because it does impact commercial
properties and condos. Um all that the district inputs is the tax levy. So the base proportions uh speak um sticking with Nassau County there are four classes of property in Nassau County. We have residential which is
your class one and your largest portion of properties. You have your class two properties, class three and class 4. So you have condos and co-ops are class 2s. Class 3es are utilities and then class four is is um commercial properties. So once we know how much needs to be
allocated to taxpayers, we need to then determine how much each category of taxpayers is going to be responsible for. That's again provided by the county to the district. Market value versus assessed value. So, this goes back to
the um the uh the reassessment that was done five, six, seven years ago now, I guess. Um there's if you go on my Nassau property, and we're going to go there in a minute so you can see what it looks like. The market value versus the assessed value are two different things. So, your
market value is what the county is saying is the probable value of your home. Now, it is very different for what your home will sell for. This is them not This is them putting a value and then assigning a factor of 0.1 to it to
come to an assessed value. And I'm going I'm going to lose some people right here, but you take that, you multiply it by the tax rate, you divide it by 100, which ultimately is how you get to your taxes. Um, this is what I walk people through when I speak with them on the phone. I kind of say what I'm doing um
as they're on as they're on the phone. Um, Nassau County and Suffach County or specifically the town of Babylon and the town of Oyster Bay assess properties differently. So, here in Farmingdale, we have what's known as a special
equalization rate. And the equalization rate determines how much Nassau is going to pay and how much SUFFK is going to pay of the levy. In a perfect world, it would be 75% and 25% every single year.
But because market values of homes and the assessed values and assess and the assessing practices are different in both counties, there's fluctuations. So the state gives us a special equalization rate which determines how
much will go. So in an in the world that we live in, it doesn't go 7525 every year. It goes 73 some years, 78 some years, and it moves back and forth. Last year, the the problem that we had here
in Farmdale was there was a zero change in the equalization rate and the assessed values on the Nassau County side while there was a corresponding decrease on the town of Babylon side. And when the equalization rates start to
go down, it means properties are appreciating faster. And Babylon ended up picking up more of the levy last year than it has in any year that I've ever seen. And that was what happened last year. Again, all of these factors that
go into what I just talked about are provided to us. They are given to us. I input them in a spreadsheet and then then it determines the tax rates that go out to each of the homes. All of that is in this complicated well
this is a summarized version of what I do but um what I want to highlight is on the top we have the 2526 uh school year and on the bottom is the 2425 we have the aortioned base the assessed values totals for each district
the equalization rates in each district um the full value which is that divided by that and then the aortionment. So as you can see for the 2425 school year the aortionment was 75% Nassau County and
25% Babylon. This year it's 76.3% in Nassau County and 23.6% in Babylon. So it's starting to go back a little bit but not nearly as much as
it did last year. also on this page. So you can see the tax levies, right? So we had uh a change in aortionment of 4% on the on the Nassau County side and a negative 3% on the Suffach County side. That's showing
that we're going from Suffach County's responsibility last year was 35 million on the tax levy versus 33.9 million this year. And this is all factored, this is all done by again the assessed values, the equalization rates that are provided
to us from the counties in the state. These are the classes of property. Um sticking with Nassau County only because it works a little bit different in Suffach. But class one as I mentioned were is um residentials homes. Uh last
year was 85.9% this year went up to 86.5%. Again, residential properties pick up the lion share of the tax levy uh for school districts. Also, the county gives us uh the average uh assessed value or the average taxable
value. So what we do is we take the tax rate which um is given to us again as a factor of everything we just discussed tonight. But they also Nassau County then also provides the tax rate to us um along with some other information they give us. You multiply the tax rate by
the average taxable value. You divide it by 100 and you get what the average home is going to be paying here in Farmingdale for school taxes. So, um, last year the actual average, if you had an average home in Farmingdale, you had an assessed value of 430. You paid a tax
rate of $1,947, which equated to $8,372 in school taxes. This year, you follow it forward, the average taxable value went down a little bit, but the tax rate went up, creating um taxes average
taxables uh value of $8,757 or a year-over-year increase of $385 or 4.61%. Then on the bottom, just to highlight it again, the voters approved a 2.28% levy
increase. So the question that I get every October when I get these phone calls is why did I approve a 2% levy increase and my taxes went up by 5%. And the answer was everything that I just kind of went through with the equalization rates, the assessed values
and everything. It's the same thing on the Suffach County side. So you take your average taxes, you multiply it by the tax rate to come up with a taxable value. because of what happened with the equalization rates this year, starting to see a swing in the other direction
and there was a drop of $42 or 4.28%. In a little while, I'm going to walk you through some examples of two houses here in Farmingdale, Nassau County on the same block, a couple of houses away from each other. That's really going to be, I think, eye opening for a lot of people.
Um, before we get there, average residential taxes paid by neighboring school districts. So, um, I looked at all of our surrounding districts, Nassau County only, uh, to show where we sit, uh, where the green line, um, versus where everyone else's sit. So, you have
different, you have varying, uh, average assessed values ranging from 466 to 570, 422 to 570, and you have estimated average taxes paid ranging from 12,000 all the way down to 6,000. Now, there's a number of variables that can go into these as
well. Some of these um districts have higher commercial properties, some of them have higher pilots, pilot properties. Um but again, just wanted to have some sort of a comparative uh up here for everyone to
see where we sit in terms of property taxes versus our neighbors. My Nassau property. Um, if you don't know this website, um, and you're interested in knowing anything about your taxes, you should go here. When I'm on the phone with residents, this is the website that I pull up. Um, you can look
up your house by your section block and lot. Or you can look it up by your address. It will take you to a page that looks like this. This was I've been using this slide since the 21 2021 school year. Um, but nothing's changed. It's still all the same. Um, that you
look for the the school year, the corresponding school year. You click on the you click on uh general and school taxes right over here and then that will take you to what you pay for your county taxes, what you pay for your school taxes. If you live in the village, they will not be up there. You have to
contact the village to get those numbers. Uh but county and school is up there. Um and you can look at different years and you can see how your rates have changed. You can see all the exemptions that you um receive, whether it's STAR, senior citizens, firefighters, volunteers, uh veterans,
any exemptions, everything's listed on that website, and you can see what changed from year to year. And that's how I figure out for residents, um what why their taxes went up or down. So this is the example I was trying to I
wanted to walk everyone through and it's probably the most eye-opening um piece of part of this presentation which is these are two houses um in Farmingdale as I mentioned Nassau County side on the same block. One house the
house on the left has never grieved their assessed value. So that's another thing I want to just clarify for one second. You don't grieve your taxes you grieve your assessed value. your assessed value goes up and down based on everything that we've been talking about, home prices. If you want it to go
down, you have to grieve it and compare it to other homes. So, this home on the left is a 1,658 square ft living space. Uh, this is again according to Nassau County's website. Um, I did see a picture of the
house. It doesn't look very updated. um not not not underkept but not well-maintained, not new. Um it's on a good piece of property. Um with the voter approved levy, this household is
seeing a 5.22% increase in taxes. Again, the voters approved a 2.28% increase in taxes. So, this person saw a $492 increase in their taxes year-over-year or 5.22%.
If the levy was zero and the voters approved no increase in the levy, this taxpayer would still have seen a 2.87% increase in taxes. Taking that one step further, if the levy went down by 2.28%.
They would have seen a 0.52% increase in their taxes. They still would not, even under a negative levy, they still would not have seen a reduction in taxes. House number two. House number two consistently grieves their taxes every single year. You can look back and
there's 15 to plus years of grievances in there. This house 200 two 2364 54 square feet of living space. Brand new house practically looks beautiful from the pictures.
They're paying more in taxes by about $1,000, not even. And they only saw a 2.48% 48% increase in their taxes. Again, on a 2.28% levy increase, under a zero, they would have seen practically no increase in
their taxes. And under a negative levy, they would have seen a negative 2% they would have seen a reduction in their taxes. So, what's happening here is House 2 is consistently grieving their assessed value, which is resulting in lower tax increases.
They're paying less taxes per square foot for their living space than the other home. And the taxes are being shifted from house number two to house number one because they're not grieving. So anytime there's an exemption applied
for, an exemption given, anytime an assessed value is grieved and lowered, the levy doesn't change. the levy gets shifted to other residents, other properties, other individuals to pick up the difference.
I want to that's really does anyone have any questions from the board on this? Because that's really I mean after this I'm going to go into a few little things that's not really as impacting as this.
There we go. Okay. Uh, two questions, Mike. So, going back to where you talked about the exact um increase, the 4 whatever percent versus the tax levy. Um, is that directly affected by what
the tax levy percentage is? So, if the tax levy percentage was slightly lower or slightly higher, would that directly affect that overall number? You're talking about on this slide. >> No, previous to this compared to 4.51. >> Oh, the tax rates. Sorry. The tax rates. Yeah. Let me get there. Let me pull it
up. >> Thank you, buddy. >> This one? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, just what was your question again? >> So, we were at a 2.28 levy, right? Let's say it was higher, 2 and a.5% or lower at 2%. Um, is this overall tax rate,
like that 4.61 61 overall. Is that affected by by the levy number? >> That would that would fluctuate. Yes. >> That would fluctuate. Okay. >> Yeah. >> That's why I do that. That's why I did the comparative on the on the two properties because as you can see when I when I lower I didn't do a higher levy,
but I did the um I did the 2.28, the zero, and then a negative. So, as you do that, the tax rate tax rates change and and the taxes change. >> Okay. And then just one more question. something that came up um in the audit committee uh yesterday that I found
interesting and you know I think we all saw a little bit of an increase um depending on whether you grieve or not on our taxes this year. So um is it okay to talk about it at this point? Right. So there was a a tax abatement um where the district's property taxes were
reduced by 11.7 million under agreements with Nassau County and town of Babylon. Um, and I know that a part of that abatement was paid through pilot payment programs about $5 million. So, I'm just having a hard time understanding why
whether it's the state or the counties work it this way where the balance of that that $6.5 million is the burden of the taxpayer. I I kind of have a mental block with how that all works. So, can you explain that a little bit? >> Yeah. So kind of complicated kind of
politics, a lot of politics involved with IDAs, right? So IDAs, industrial development agencies, their purpose is to bring business to New York, bring bring business to Long Island. The way they excuse me, the way they do that is
they have to incentivize these businesses to come. One of the ways to do that because New York is one of the highest taxpaying states around is they say we're going to give you the ability to pay less on your taxes which is going to improve your profit margin. Right? So
your your bottom line is going to go up because now you're paying less in taxes but you still have to pay your you still have to pay something and you still have to prove this is that this is the IDA. You need to develop a business model that's going to prove and show to us that whatever you're doing is going to
bring business into the area. It's going to bring revenue into the area. It's going to create jobs, things like that. It's going to better the area, right? Because you want businesses to come here to provide all that stuff. They're going to pay taxes. They're going to pay income taxes, sales taxes. They're going
to pay employees. Um I don't know all the specifics behind all of that, so I I can't get into that, but that's the function of an IDA. When an IDA um when an IDA comes to the area though,
the only way they can pay less in taxes is if they come off the rolls. So the business itself disappears more or less from a tax role. Right? But going back to the levy which was the first slide where I first started h I
started talking about levy. The levy is still the levy. levy still needs to be collected. So that levy gets dispersed around all the other classes of property. Now in New York State with the
tax cap law, we do subtract out from when we're doing that calculation, we're not allowed to include those factors in the tax cap calculation. So we always back out whatever we're going to receive in pilots before we're able to arrive at
the allowable levy limit. So really what to answer your question is yes the abatement the abated properties are falling off the tax roles. Nobody's seeing them anymore. The levy is still being collected. is being collected from others and then they're paying a smaller
tax property tax on their property that the IDA then remits to the district and then each year of the pilot property some go for 10 years some go up to 20 years each year it goes up a little bit um per their agreement with the IDA so
they pay a little bit more each there. Correct. Yep. Any other questions from the board regarding uh this scenario right here and how taxes are allocated? Um star information. So uh basic there's
two types of star, right? there's basic and there's enhanced star. Um, and then within the basic and the enhanced, we'll go into that in a little bit, but there's the exemption and there's the credit. So, if you bought your house prior to, I think it's 2015,
you most likely receive receive the star exemption, right? So, the star exemption is your property taxes are $8,000. You receive a star exemption of $2,000. So, you only pay to the county $6,000. Um the star credit is you pay the full
8,000 and the check and the state sends you a check each fall. So um there is a benefit to being on the credit and I and um this is this is again this was state legis the legislature passed this I don't remember what year it was but
they're not growing the exemption anymore. They grow the credit. So, it's they're almost incentivizing you to pay the school taxes in full upfront, and they will send you a bigger credit check than you would get if you just let it
remain on your tax bill, and you pay less. Doesn't seem fair, but that's what they're doing. I I believe it was because of cash flow purposes that they started implementing this a few years ago. Helps them manage their cash better. Um, there are some income limits. So,
um, if your income is greater than 250,000 and and less than or equal to 500, you must enroll in the STAR credit program. That's where you pay the full amount up front. If your income is less than 250, you should enroll in the credit program. Uh, new homeowners have
to enroll in the credit. Star eligibility, primary residence, it can't be a rental home, it has to be your primary house. Ownership, age. So there are age rest no age restriction for the basic but in order to receive the enhanced star which is significantly
more you must be over 65 and meet um the the income limits as well. So um it's based off of the next year's star will be based off of your 2024 return. So this year if you're receiving star it's because they looked at your 2023 tax
return for the 26 27th school year it will be off of your 2024 tax return. And for the enhanced star, it's $110,750 or less. All right. You can find more information about the STAR program um on the New York State
website. Um as I mentioned, the exemption versus the credit. We just started we just talked about that. Um and then star maximum. So the star maximum savings are not what taxpayers save in every instance. It's the maximum that they could save. So there is a
sliding scale depending on income levels and other varying factors. Some important deadlines. So uh as you know most people probably already know around here the tax payments uh tax bills did start to go out in Nassau County. They will start to go out um
later on in the year for Babylon. Uh January 2nd um is really the due date for all exemptions and STAR applications. any changes you want to make to your STAR or if you want to apply for a Nassau County exemption, that is due by January 2nd. And then the
assessment grieving process usually runs uh January 2nd through March 1st, although they typically do extend it later than March 1st every single year. But those are the dates that I keep up here on an annual basis. That's it. Any other questions from the
board regarding taxes? Okay. Thank you. Oh yeah. Nope. Good. Good. Um, we will I will get this posted to our website. I I post it to the website um every single year on my page. So, I will post this forformational purposes. We're also working on putting something together to
push out to the community that kind of explains this in like a one pager. It's kind of challenging to to do, but we're working on it. So, we're gonna have something out soon. >> Yep. >> Mike, sorry, just one one more question. Can you go back to the exemption slide
for star exemptions? >> Can uh if somebody was having an issue with um exemptions for STAR, where would they go to what kind of resources do we have for them to >> They'd have to call the state. >> The state. >> Yeah. So, anytime you're having trouble
with an exemption, so if it's a STAR, you have to call the state. If it's if it's a um a Nassau County exemption, like a firefighter, uh veterans, senior citizens with limited income or disabilities, that one you would call Nassau County on um that information I
don't have um in this presentation, but >> specifically senior citizens. I'm just I'm aware of uh a senior citizen that had an issue with um uh doing a withdrawal from an annuity that took them over that limit and it was a one-time withdrawal and they lost star
enhanced star because of it. Uh and I think they had a tough time navigating. >> Yeah, there are there are income limits that apply to those exemptions in order for you to receive them. Um I do get calls like that often where like why why did my taxes go up so dramatically? Well, what happened last year? Oh, I
sold a ton of stock or, you know, I was a recipient of of something that that impacted their income. And like I said, the star unit is looking at your app. They're looking at your income statement. So, when they cross reference it, it may take them two years because
it's two years behind, but when they catch it, they're going to get that back or they're going to reduce it. And we also um over here, we also uh attend the senior citizen meetings. I've already been to one earlier this year. We're going to go to one in the next month or so where we'll do this talk or some form
of this talk for them as well and help them to navigate that system to the best of our ability to at least point them in the right direction because there are complexities that are heartbreaking where people don't even realize that annuity question came up a lot when I was the business official in Mike's spot and I answered that question a lot. you
know, nothing really changed except I just cashed money out because I hit a an age that required me to start taking a mandatory amount of money from the annuity and now that put me into a different income threshold and now all of a sudden, you know, the money that I got is actually equaling the amount of additional taxes that I have to pay. So,
these are like nuancy things that uh we try to work through with our seniors and we do make the time. I remember, you know, doing house visits, you know, when necessary with our senior citizens to try to navigate the process. It's complex, but um we try to do the best we can being there for them. And I know the county does the same. They have seminars
and things like that set up for the senior citizens at the library to help navigate their taxes. It's a great question. >> It'sund 110,750 for the enhanced star. That's for next year.
Great. And anyone in else in the audience that does have a question, we're going to open up the mic for public participation and you can fire away uh in in just a little bit. We're just going to get reset back up on the stage. Give us a couple minutes and we'll open up the mic for any questions that you might have. Thank you again, TC, for the
presentation and for the information and explanations. We appreciate that. I'd like to open the meeting for our first public participation opportunity. If you come to the mic, please be sure to clearly state your name and address. The meeting is now yours.
Hello. Yeah. Okay. Uh Will Andrew, 89 Crestwood Boulevard. Um, I think Mr. Montisi must have been uh listening into my phone over the weekend when he gave that presentation there
because um I got my tax bill in and again my radar went up. Uh the specific problem I have is that I'm 62 years old. I'm medically retired. I won SSDI.
I was earning in excess of 150k a year and now my income has dropped way down. Unfortunately, we're getting the star, but that's all we get because my my wife obviously with
her earnings takes us well over the amount. Um, I'm probably one of these people that fall into the category of always pulling my taxes because as Mr. Defendini might
remember, we had quite a few talks around about 2015 when I first figured out exactly what was going on. Uh, but anyway, so again, um, I haven't appealed on my
own for a few years. I've been using a company and I spoke with uh Andrew Maidenbomb and he exactly went over what Mike was saying there about the the increase in
school taxes even when the assessed value has came down. So for me over a period of three years being on SSDI that's a lot of money.
$2,000 is a lot of money when you've been earning over 150k and suddenly you're down to less than 50. And the other problem as Michael Montisha was saying there is that if I
go and take money out my annuity then my taxes are going to go up and I'm going to lose that benefit. So I'm caught a I'm caught in a catch 22 situation but what to do and how to figure it out.
But really the worst thing is, and I'll tell you right now, I since 2009 when we moved here, I've always voted against the school budget because I've seen this coming. And the reason I've seen it
coming is because I did do an MBA. So I don't understand everything. I do understand it to a certain extent. And when you look at the tax
uh school taxes for Farmingdale, the increase from 2009 through 2025 is incredible. >> I'm sorry, sir. I just not to cut you off, but we have a threeminut limit. If you had a question to ask, uh you can
ask it now. Otherwise, we have another public participation opportunity. You can come back up to the mic. >> Quite important. So just let me finish this this sentence please. So uh what I what I have noticed is the increase in
uh salaries and benefits over since 2009 but recently um it's been round about 77%. So 77% of the school budget. >> Sir I'm sorry I'm going to have to stop
you only because we have to follow the rules. you can come back up the second time because if you have more to say I don't want to but we do have to move on so >> I'll ask you to please take a seat we can come back up for the second public participation a chance >> and even after that we can continue the conversation informally
All righty. Thank you everyone. Um, Mrs. Fulham, have we received any correspondence this month? >> Yes, Mr. Morales. The board received emails from a parent regarding transportation, an email from a student regarding a new club at the high school, and an email from a resident regarding
security guards. Thank you very much. Miss Meyer, may we have your monthly update, please? >> Thank you. I just wanted to share um some updates that I have within our school community. Uh first off, we have our annual pinkout game coming up on the
18th against Masipiqua. So, there's lots of excitement within our school, not only to support our football team and for them to hopefully win, but also to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research through the make sense at a breast cancer fundraiser, which is run by the Smith family. Along with
this, I wanted to share an update regarding the college fairs. Um, Dian and I spoke to Miss Stillwell on Monday and we're exploring ways to increase student participation at the fairs, especially for seniors. And one of the possibilities that we're looking into is for the future encouraging teachers to
let their students briefly leave class to attend the fairs. So they'll have the opportunity to speak to and get information about the diff about different colleges. So I'm happy to say that we're working towards a way to balance class time with the chance for seniors to explore college options. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much again for all of your ideas and your colleagues ideas as well. We really appreciate it. Keep up the great work and we'll see you in a month. Right. Thank you. Are there any board committee reports? >> Good evening. Um
so a lot of the committees have um well some of them I should say rather has started up. I know um shared decision started this week. It's in the early phases. So, it didn't start this week, but I couldn't make the first meeting. Um, but there's a lot to do with that.
Um, so I'll probably have more to report on that after the next meeting. Um, but I do want to make mention the meet and greet for SEPTA is always one of my favorites of the year, our special ed PTA. Um, Miss Gina Brinske, who's our SEPTA leader president this year, did a
fantastic job um getting parents, some new parents, a lot of new faces this year. And I wanted to also personally thank um so many people from our staff from every one of our buildings. We had building administration from every single one of our six buildings. We had
um our our special ed department there. Many of our service providers, teachers, psychologists. Um, it was impressive and I think the new parents that were there really got a taste of the um the amount of work that goes into it, but the care
from our from our staff. Um, so that was extremely well attended. I want to say Northid's cafeteria was filled um wallto-wall, standing room only, and even though I was there early, I was one of the standers in the corner. Um, but it was really nice to see that. So, it was a very welcoming night. And I know
tomorrow night is the open house at the high school. I've been to the Albany Avenue um open house and uh lots going on. I'm sure the reports will start rolling in in the next month or so as we continue gearing up. So that's all I
have for tonight. Thank you. >> Um yes, the committees are up and running. Um this week coming up or next into next week, we have the legislative action committee. Um this Friday we have the policy um which we got a lot of
policies to look at. Um and uh Mike, you'll be running that part of it, right? So I'll see you on Friday. Um Formula Chamber of Commerce has been very busy. They're busy 247 and um a lot of community events coming
up. Uh the Chamber of Commerce is holding a fundraiser on October 23rd. It is um comedy night and the tickets are on on sale on their website. It's going
to be held at 317 Maine. There's four new comedians um that are local and in the surrounding metro area that are going to come perform. A lot of the money that is raised goes to scholarships for our high school seniors
and um people in our community who actually uh who need help. So, um, come on down, uh, go on the website. You have to get a ticket before you, no walk-ins. So, please, uh, help out with that. And like I said, the money goes to our our
community. Um, also we have coming up and, uh, the annual Columbus Day fair, which the village is running, the carnival, the street fair, the parade. So go on the um website for the village and you can go on the chamber website as
well if you're looking for specific times and dates of everything. Uh lots happening in our community. And um Farmingdale Youth Council, if you're interested in any of the programs, you can go on the Farmell Youth Council website. We have several member
organizations that have openings. Um and the youth council itself has a winter program that was starting to run. So registration is still open for some of the um events and activities. Also,
let's see. We had a state feed committee meeting that uh the committee is working on a few things um so we can get the information out there as to what's going on. Um and looking into
um let's see what else. Oh, so much going on. Um wonderful things. But um I think I'll uh uh right now we'll hold on to Oh, wait. Halloween parade. So we have the Farming
High School. What group do they do again? The safe Halloween trunk or treat. Um that's going to be held on the 24th. That's a Saturday. And um in sync with that, we also have the village
Halloween parade. So look on those two websites to see because the you can do five things in one day if you're ready to move and go and it's a great community to have all these events. Um the parade I think starts at 1:00. Um go
on the website and check but there is parade. There's also village things go on same day you go to the high school. I think it Suzanne remember what time it starts at the high school? 11 I believe the trunk or treat. Um, yeah, we got so much going on, so I don't want to give you the wrong dates,
but um I wish I had it in front of me, but Oh, yeah. Okay. The Village Halloween parade is 1:00 on October 25th. It is. The parade starts um right by the Candies Jewelry Store um into the parking lot um number four. And um come
on down. They have uh safe Halloween going on that day. The high school one starts at 11:30 to 1. That's a trunk or trick trunk or treat and that's at the high school. So come on down, bring your kids, dress up um and have fun. If
anyone could add to that, I just don't have the dates of everything in front of me right now. >> Uh I I will just add a couple of things. I'll echo um what Suzanne said about those PTA meetings. Um incredible start to the PTA meetings this year. That
SEPTA meeting was uh wow, very impressive. I mean there there must have been what two or 30 hundred people in that room. Um some great great stories shared. So uh and a lot of resources that SEPTA provides parents. Um uh I attended Woodward Parkway PTA meeting
the high school um all copetic um audit committee was yesterday. It was my first time on audit committee. That was uh really interesting. And I will say that there some of the community members of the audit committee are just so
impressive and and really necessary to helping us dig into to these audits and understanding the financial statements of of the district. Um I mean some of these people I knew, some of some of them I was just meeting but wow what an impressive group that asked some really really thoughtful questions during that
meeting you know um to help us sort of understand some of the thing that tax abatement question uh that I asked earlier stemmed from a conversation that happened um in the audit committee meeting last night. So, um, very very informative and and really helped me understand, uh, the budget and the
financials of the district, uh, a lot better. Uh, and shared decision-making, as Suzanne mentioned, uh, so excited about the direction of that committee. Uh, that committee, I happened to be on that, uh, before I became a board member. um spent a a
couple of years really um doing a lot of the ground work before the district really jumped into the portrait of a graduate before the state really uh jumped into it. Um and now we're uh that committee now is going into a direction where we're actually executing on some
really fun stuff that's coming up for the district. So, um, and then the last one is just PL, um, update basketball registration closed, but, um, we are hoping to open up the new special needs basketball program registration in
November. We need some help with that. We're having some difficulties um, with headquarters getting that one established. So, if you're in favor of a special needs basketball program for PAL, please send an email to farmingdale basketball@gmail.com
just to share uh your thoughts on it and that you want it to happen and we will happily forward that over to Nassau County headquarters. That's it. >> I have one more. I'm sorry. I don't know how I forgot this or any of us forgot this. Many of us were there, but the
marching for all event that took place on Saturday, um I know some familiar faces in the audience uh were there that night, but if you weren't aware of it, I mean, there was a lot of um promotions going on regarding it, but it's an all abilities drum line, the Calhoun drum
line, who collaborated um specifically reached out, sought out Farmingdale's marching band because we are the best. We know that. Um at least I think so. Many of us think so, but they collaborated together and the stands were filled at the high school. The
weather was perfect. The sunset was like off a Bob Ross painting. It was absolutely spectacular. But the smiles on these individual faces and the crowd in the stands who were clapping and dancing. They had solos and then the
marching band along with um the Calhoun drum line uh performed Sweet Caroline together. And I mean what a sense of community and the takeaway you know I think many of us were there and we were talking about like hope every student
every person sitting in our bleachers anybody and everybody that was there had the same takeaway that we had in that everybody can work together. You know we're all we're all meant to work together. but we all have the same endgame and it's to collaborate and to
you know live happily and do what we love together and I saw that and the pride was palpable so I don't know how I missed it but nonetheless um missed talking about it because I was there um but yeah I had to make mention of that and I appreciate all the work of our music department you know Mr. Warikowski
and uh Mr. Damassie Mr. a I'm probably gonna forget a million names, so I'm going to stop there. But there was a lot of behind the scenes. I know there's some film making that was done behind the scenes um as well and something will come out about that. So pay attention to that and um I'm looking forward to see
where that goes. But it was a really feel-good night in Farmingdale that night. So thank you. >> Just uh one more thing to add. Um just to clarify before I begin, this is not a Farmingdale school district vote. This is a Nassau Boseis vote. Uh Nassau
Boseies is holding a public referendum on Thursday, October 16th. Uh asking voters to consider a plan that includes the purchase of a school, sale of a vacant property, and capital improvements to enhance safety and accessibility at two existing facilities. Uh so again, not a
Farmingdale school district vote, but it is um you know, affecting the general schools in our area. Um, if you want some more voter information on that, that is at the Nassau BoseC's uh website. >> Thank you everyone. May I have a motion now to approve the minutes of the August
20, 2025 regular board meeting? >> I make a motion to approve the minutes of the August 20th, 2025 regular board meeting. >> All in favor? >> I >> I motion carries. Call for a motion to approve the consent agenda.
>> I make a motion to approve the consent agenda consisting of items 2 A through AS to be approved as whole with action recorded separately. >> All in favor? >> I >> I motion carries. At this time, I'd like to open our meeting for our second
public participation opportunity. Again, please state your name and address clearly when you come up to the mic. And the meeting again is back to you. Well, Andrew 89 Crestwood Boulevard, Farmingdale. Um so the point I was trying to make
there was that if you look at the school budget which was I think it was two 206 million um and I just worked it out again over the weekend. So the salary and benefits portion of that was 77%
which is quite a substantial increase since when I first moved here in 2009. Um, and I'm just wondering if anyone can explain to me how that's going to be sustainable over the coming years.
So that's my first question. >> If you could just ask your questions, we'll write them down. That way if you do run out of time, we will have had all your questions and we can answer them all. So just fire away with all your questions. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. Uh, my second question is that one I spoke about a long long
time ago as well. um the the the taxes are predominantly based on the assessed property values correct and the aortioned um the aortioned payment thereof.
But part of the problem is that if you, as Paul said, if you grieve your taxes, then the school budget still has to be made up. So that amount of money is a portion to somebody else. So the actual
resident is not gaining anything because if you're saving 2,000, you're paying half of that to the company that's fighting your case for you. So, it's a no- win situation. It's it's
again unsustainable and it's almost a Ponzi scheme and I'm just wondering if you don't think there's any other way that we can uh sort that out. Personally speaking, um I don't understand why the
size of my house should have anything to do with the school budget. I mean, if I've got one kid in school district, and I'm paying 10 grand in school taxes, I'm a next door neighbor,
his house is half the size of mine, but he's got three kids in the school district, and he's paying 10 grand, that means I'm paying 10 grand for one kid, and he's paying 3.33 whatever for his kids. I mean, there
there's definitely something wrong there. Um, I just don't understand how Farmingdale can continue with this. Um, like I said, I remember discussing it with Paul ages and ages and ages ago and there was no
conceivable way of fixing it because it was the way everything's always been done. But unless somebody tries to do something about it, we're all going to be up Creek without a paddle. Thank you.
I'll start. >> So, first off, it is nice to see you again, Mr. Andrews. I'm sorry under these circumstances, but I remember fondly, we had a lot of different conversations over the years, and I remember uh you paying very acute attention to the details of our
conversation. And um for those of you that don't know, before I was the superintendent, I was in Mike's seat. I was the business official. I did this for 11 years. So, I got a chance to know the system pretty well. And it is a very problematic system. and and I remember um sort of that light bulb going off above your head in one of our
conversations when you did understand it and you couldn't understand how that could possibly be the way that things work. But the reality is we have to work within the confines of the systems that we're given. We we don't have control over that system. We voiced concerns connected to the way that the assessing
system works. I think tonight was another uh point of evidence to that fact. The concerns that we have with the assessing system that you can have two houses, right? Mike brought that example up. You have two houses neighbors to one another. One um is notably larger than the other. The other one's smaller. And
even based upon the system that's actually been contrived, it doesn't work because it's not even doing what it's supposed to be doing. Because if you're just sophisticated enough to know you grieve your taxes every year, your taxes don't go up. Your taxes will either remain the same or maybe go up a fraction of a percent or in many
instances based upon whatever our levy is for the year, your taxes could go down year-over-year. But that means that everybody else is going to pay for the amount of savings that you achieved on your taxes. It's the way that the Nassau County system has designed it. They've designed this system to be based upon your property value. So basically what
they're saying is if your property is nicer, it must mean that you have more opportunity or the opportunity the ability to pay more in property taxes. That's that is the system that's been established. It's not going anywhere to my knowledge. And even if there were to be concerns, it wouldn't be concerns at this table because we have nothing we
have nothing to do with that. So, I I understand your frustration. I also understand the frustrations with splitting the money with the companies who are doing the grieving for you. That was also a good point. Um, I had done that for years. I know that Mike still works with residents to help them do that so that they don't have to split up
the money. Um, they can just keep it all themselves. We don't get a cut of it when we help you do it. Um, we can sort of navigate that process so that you get the full benefit of whatever the savings are. You know, I did it for years. Uh John did it before me and I know that Mike still does some of that work to try to help people navigate some of those
processes. So that's the best that we could do is just try to help people do it on their own. We can't do it for them, but we can help them. And and to your last point, um I'd like to dig a little deeper with your uh inquiry about the percentage of salaries going up. So
what I can say to you is yeah, roughly between 75 in any given year and 80% of the budget is spent on the salaries and benefits for instructional programs. I think you might be looking at the three-part budget, but there has not been any 70 plus% increase in salaries
and benefits over anywhere near the last decade. Um, the salary increases and benefit increases have gone up. I'm not denying the fact that they've gone up, but nowhere to that amount. So, I'd love to maybe sit down with you after the meeting if you wouldn't mind staying for a few minutes. We can even exchange information um and maybe down and talk
through a little bit where you're getting that information from so I can better understand and answer that question. Is that fair? >> That's fair. But I can answer that question just now. >> It comes from the you give us
>> and underneath it gives you the actual amount >> salaries and then benefits. >> I'll grab you right after the meeting and we can go we can go through we can sit down and go through that. Okay. That way I can I can hear it and I'd even be happy to put it as part of old business to keep a part of the public forum. Okay.
Okay. May I have a motion now to enter into executive session? I make a motion to enter into executive session for the purpose of discussions related to the employment history of particular employees and advice from the board of education attorney
>> and collective negotiations with the f unit and nurses unit >> just >> I'm adopting what you said >> all in favor I >> motion carries. >> Have a good evening everyone. We will see everyone again soon.
>> Have a great night.