Friday, April 21, 2023
Vol. 100, No.16
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FOUNDED 1923 n LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Your Realtor Next Door
Tsui Ying (Ju Lic. R. E. Sale
dy) Hsu
sperso
n O 516.307.940 6 | M 516.695.8 024 tsuiying.hsu@ elliman.com elliman.com Garden City Office 130 Seventh Street
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Varsity baseball PAGE 58 n Tulip time PAGE 22
EAB: protect LI’s water by curbing nitrogen pollution
GCHS ON THE ROAD
BY RIKKI MASSAND
The Garden City Girls Lacrosse Team traveled to Maryland over Spring Break to play Garrison Forest High School, which it beat 18-9. See page 60. Photo by Ed Rotondo
School Board adopts 2023-24 budget; public vote May 16
BY KASSARA MCELROY Next year’s school budget proposal was officially adopted by the Board of Education this week. For context, the overall proposed budget for the 2023/24 school year totals $130,282,491. That’s a budget-to-budget increase of 4.58%, or $5,703,042. It falls within the allowable tax
cap levy of 2.32%. The budget is categorized by capital (13.43%), administrative (11.38%) and program (or instructional) costs (75.19%). What’s driving the budget for next year? For the Garden City school district, that would be salaries and benefits, state and federal mandate, enrollment and class sizes, school security and safety, cyber security,
© 2023 DOUGLA S ELLIMA N REAL ESTATE. EQUAL HOU 110 WALT WHITMA SING OPP ORT UNI N ROAD, HUN TING TY. TON STATION, NY 11746. 631.549.740 1.
cleaning and maintenance, the tax levy and state aid. At the K-5 levels, the proposed spending plan will fund a three-year subscription for the Illustrative Math resources (grades 2-5), the enhancement of library media curriculum for updated library spaces, the purchase of resources and training for writing curriculum See page 37
Garden City Environmental Advisory Board (EAB) member Elizabeth Bailey shared ten tips for village residents on how they can help prevent nitrogen from seeping into the groundwater and surface waters, as there is great concern about pollution of waters around Long Island. Her recommendations came from the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan, which is a collaborative effort between the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the Long Island Regional Planning Council and other stakeholders and organizations. The largest contributing factor for nitrogen seeping into Long Island’s water bodies and aquifer is sewage, followed by fertilizers. A smaller source is the continued burning of fossil fuels and their emissions, as driving a gas-powered car produces nitrogen oxide from the emissions control system. Driving less can reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide that gets formed. Bailey presented a 2022 map of Long Island’s water quality impairments, developed by Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University and the Nature Conservancy. The map presented the proliferation of toxic blue-green algae as well as concerns over hypoxia (lack of oxygen) as problems for Long Island.
The top tip is for homeowners and property managers to fertilize their lawns responsibly, using a minimal amount of fertilizer or none at all – relying on clippings of grass to perform the fertilization. Bailey has read reports indicating that homeowners and landscapers can use much more fertilizer than needed for lawns. “You can keep grass clippings on the lawn and make them effective as fertilizer,” she noted. Another tip is to sweep up the excess grass clippings to prevent them from going into driveways and sidewalks, as rain or lawn sprinklers will wash them into stormwater drains. Downspouts from a home’s roof can also be directed to spread the water into plant beds around the property rather than down the driveway. The meeting of the EAB included a detailed look at the benefits of native species plantings for homeowners and businesses, and the water supply mechanisms for them to thrive can easily be integrated. Though most Nassau County communities including Garden City have sewer service instead of home septic systems, the message for those who live in the village and go to summer homes in other locations is to look into the opportunity to upgrade into new, cleaner advanced treatment systems which See page 37
AT Stewart Classic: Great golf, prizes PAGE 3 Organ concert by Juilliard students PAGE 18