Assistant Superintendent for Business Ryan Ruf said work on the 2026-27 Massapequa School District budget has been underway since September and presented the Board of Education with some details at its Feb. 5 meeting. This marked the first formal presentation of the proposed spending plan.

Ruf’s presentation focused on general support codes, state aid and the state tax levy limit and general support accounts for 80 of the district’s 284 budget codes.

Among the expenses highlighted was the $34,834 cost of the annual budget vote, including $16,000 for the four legally required public notices. The proposed budget also includes $33,000 for an outside claims auditor, since every payment must be reviewed before it is released to a vendor.

Ruf also cited the $606,000 allocated for legal services, noting that expenses in that line can fluctuate significantly depending on what he called the “wild card” of impartial hearings for student placement.

Under “SED Mandated Inspections,” the district will be testing its water in the coming school year as per a requirement to complete this testing every three years; a final cost for that testing was not immediately available.

In addition, $57,500 is budgeted for a state-required building condition survey conducted every five years.

Security remains a major component of the budget. The proposal allocates $1,280,220 for regular security guard salaries and $694,668 for armed guards.

“General liability and property insurance is another significant cost,” said Ruf. “Rates are skyrocketing and that the district rejected a proposed 33 percent increase from its carrier. Negotiations are continuing.”

Turning to the state tax levy limit, Ruf said it will be 4.6 percent for 2026-27, adding that “we will be working hard to make sure that we’re not coming close to that number.” He noted that “most Districts go to the maximum every single year, but Massapequa has not.”

A chart presented to the Board showed that in the 16 years since the levy limit was implemented, the district has remained a cumulative $37,281,727 below the cap.

Source: Massapequa Post