Mineola district board members adopted a proposed 2024-2025 budget and honored students at a meeting on Thursday.

The proposed 2024-2025 budget is $109,552,352, which represents a slight decrease from last year’s budget. The proposed tax levy is 2%.

The approved 2023-2024 budget was $109,652,819, meaning the budget-to-budget decrease is $100,467 or 0.09%.

This is unusual, since most North Shore districts are facing budget increases this year and many are reaching the tax cap, blaming spikes in health insurance costs and changes to state aid.

The Mineola budget includes a referendum to transfer $4.5 million from its capital reserve for infrastructure projects. 

The proposal details a list of several renovations at Mineola High School, including improvements to the roofing system and repairs to the lighting, building insulation and A/C units.

Additional construction also included landscaping for student dining for Mineola High School, masonry work at the Hampton Street School and repairs to the A/C units at Willis Avenue School.

A budget hearing is scheduled for May 9. Residents will cast their votes on May 21.

At the meeting, the board honored several students for an array of accomplishments, including art, music and research projects. Board members congratulated students on their projects for the Masada flag art competition for Youth Art Month in March.

Trustees also congratulated students who had their artwork featured in the New York State Art Teachers Association Legislative Exhibit, which is the organization’s largest public display of student artwork in a government building.

In addition to the art and research honors, many students were acknowledged for their success in science and robotics programs. Two sisters – Mineola sixth grader Julia D’Amico and Hampton Stream second grader Valerie D’Amico – won an award for their presentation at the Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS) at Stony Brook University.

The IACS competition celebrates the achievements of women in science and engineering.

The board also honored students who were nominated and accepted to the Institute of Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented at SUNY Old Westbury. The Institute is a tuition free program geared towards mathematics, engineering and science based learning.

Members of the Mineola Middle School robotics teams, Mineola Monkeys and the Cyber Mustangs were praised for advancing to regional competitions in Long Island’s First LEGO League Championship Tournament in March.

The board celebrated Mineola’s standout winter athletes. Recognition included student athletes for basketball, boys and girls bowling, wrestling and track and field. Several wrestlers at the middle school and high school levels were honored for qualifying for the state tournament.

The girls’ varsity basketball team earned accolades for their second-place conference finish and playoff appearance and the girls’ bowling team was recognized as the three-time defending Nassau County champions under Coach Miller.