Half Hollow Hills budget gap... (Dix Hills, Syosset: how much, lawyer, house)

[HiroOfTheRails]

Ive yet to decide on where Im moving but Dix Hills is definitely on the top of the list. The recent budget gap news out of the district is a bit concerning. Is this something to be worried about? Would hate to make a mistake and get my kids off to a bad start...really love the area so hoping this isnt going to impact the decision on whether to purchase. Would love to hear thoughts...thanks as always.

[Lori Brewer]

I'm going to cop out and give the lawyer answer....it depends.

It depends on how comfortable you are price wise and tax wise in that area and how well you would be able to absorb an 8.6% tax increase if no budget cuts were made. It depends on what age your children are currently. Will a cut to half day kindergarten affect them if that's one of the steps they choose to take. Are your kids particularly musical or athletic, so that program cuts would affect them?

If it were me buying the house and facing the decision, I would not let it deter me from purchasing in an area I otherwise liked, assuming I could afford a significant tax increase. The one thing that would give me pause is the closing of schools, which would result in larger class sizes, but it would depend on how much larger the classes would be and how that size compares with the other public school systems in the area.

[amyla]

Half day kindergarten, eliminating high school west and high school band are off the table.

[Lori Brewer]

I hadn't heard that yet. I know they released the survey results earlier in the week and promised to use the results to guide the decision, but I didn't know anything was definitively taken off the table. Thanks for the update!

[HiroOfTheRails]

I have two kids...first is going to be 3 in May and the 2nd is only a few months. The idea now (always changing of course!) is to put my oldest in a school close to us for a year and then we were planning on selling our current home and buying close to the Melville area as my wife's current company has an office there. We think its such an amazing opportunity to have one of use close to home so weve been looking mostly at Dix Hills but now Im also checking out the Melville area (heard great things about the area close to Strathmore) and perhaps even a bit north in the Harborfields SD. With my wife likely able to work out there, I think its at least a no brainer decision to look a bit further east than we originally intended. My parents bought in the Laurel Hollow area about a decade ago so always figured anywhere in Syosset and West was the way to go to avoid the long commutes. As most know, dont really get a whole lot of bang in Syosset, Bethpage, and the more west you head the more unappealing it is to me...