The Update

Rockville Centre housing and schools · Issue 001 · September 2026

The Update, Issue 001

A guy with a spreadsheet meets local government

The savings I set out to find for my own bill were small (< $100). Finding them turned up much larger ones for some households, starting with the three below. The bigger point is planning ahead for our schools with the least disruptions and hopefully lower costs and better outcomes.

Enrollment here has fallen about 1.5 percent a year since 2020-21, to 3,284 students. The levy that pays for the schools can normally grow only by the lesser of two percent or inflation, two percent for the fifth year running, a ceiling set in Albany that does not move when our costs do. The budget the district adopted in May cut 62 positions, and that is before any of what follows. Everything below is at rvc-taxes.jeffpinto.com.

Three ways to lower your own bill

Our asks in Albany and Washington change how the bill is divided, not how large it is. Yours can change your share of it. Assemblymember Judy Griffin and County Legislator Olena Nicks walked us through what the county and the state actually offer.

1 Grieve your assessment

Free. Filed with the county. It either lowers your assessment or leaves it alone.

Next window: January 4, 2027

rvc-taxes.jeffpinto.com/fiscal-math

2 Enhanced STAR at 65

Automatic now, no application. If you turned 65 recently and your bill did not change, call the assessor.

$3,147 a year, against $1,089 for Basic

rvc-taxes.jeffpinto.com/validation#f-star-credit

3 The senior exemption

Income tested, filed with the Nassau County Department of Assessment. From July 1, 2027 the state lets Nassau raise the income ceiling to $75,000.

Up to 65% off the school, county and town lines

rvc-taxes.jeffpinto.com/validation#f-467-nassau-inforce

Congress fixed the front door and left the back one shut

This is an example of what we are initially looking to do. A couple selling the home they raised a family in excludes $500,000 of the gain from federal tax. A widow gets the same $500,000 only if she sells within two years of her husband's death. After that it halves to $250,000, and a deadline she never chose starts running the week of the funeral.

H.R. 1340 makes the survivor's exclusion $500,000 and indexes it, which removes the deadline. Where a seller goes next is a separate problem, and the site says so.

156

members of both parties have signed on, the most recent on August 31

Write Rep. Gillen about H.R. 1340

Rep. Gillen is still off the list. The letter is already written. Add a line about where in the village you live and edit it however you like, about ninety seconds. Outside NY-4 the tool finds your own delegation.

The two-year deadline on the home-sale exclusion A widow with a $341,350 gain owes no federal tax if she sells within two years of her husband's death, and about $13,700 if she sells after. They bought in 1985 for $136,000. It is worth $818,700 now. He died last year, so her cost basis is $477,350 and selling produces a gain of $341,350. The only thing that changes between these two columns is the date. She sells within 2 years of his death Her exclusion $500,000 Federal tax on the sale $0 The whole gain is excluded. She sells after the deadline Her exclusion $250,000 Federal tax on the sale about $13,700 $91,350 of the gain becomes taxable. An illustration built from the statute, not a real household. It ignores the cost of selling.
The same sale, before and after the two-year deadline that starts the day a spouse dies.

Senior exemptions in the districts we compare with, 2025 county roll

School districtSenior exemptionEnhanced STARPer 100 filersAll homes% of homes
Baldwin2098092610,6472.0%
Mineola175727247,6892.3%
Oceanside2411,0362312,9691.9%
Rockville Centre71321226,3271.1%
Garden City51311167,9460.6%

Against all homes Rockville Centre runs 1.1 percent, below Mineola, Oceanside and Baldwin and above Garden City. Against Enhanced STAR filers, the households already old enough to qualify, it sits in the middle of the five. Two stories fit that pattern: higher incomes here, or eligible seniors who never applied. Telling them apart takes the income data we asked the county for.

We pay 4 to 32 percent more per student than neighboring districts

The next three years, if nothing changes Local tax per student rises 11 percent over three years while the levy rises 6 percent under the 2 percent cap and enrollment falls 4 percent. The gap between those two lines is about $1,700 more per student by 2029-30 from fewer students alone. Below, today's local tax per student in five districts: Rockville Centre $32,500, Mineola $31,216, Garden City $28,489, Oceanside $25,169, Baldwin $24,686. The next three years, if nothing changes A projection, not a forecast: the levy grown at the 2 percent cap, enrollment continued at its own recent rate. 95 100 105 110 2026-27 2027-28 2028-29 2029-30 Local tax per student +11% over three years The levy, at the 2% cap +6% over three years Enrollment -4% over three years About $1,700 more per student by 2029-30, from fewer students alone. Modeled: the levy at the cap over enrollment at its own trend, less the same levy over today's enrollment. Not a forecast. Today, side by side: local school tax per student Rockville Centre $32,500 Mineola $31,216 Garden City $28,489 Oceanside $25,169 Baldwin $24,686
Local tax per student, the levy, and enrollment over the next three years, indexed to 2026-27. The bars below the chart are today's cost per student in the five districts we compare with.

The levy grows two percent. Divided among fewer students each year, the cost per student grows about eleven percent over the same three years. That gap is where the next round of cuts comes from.

Since last time

The site went up on August 1.

Jeff PintoRockville Centre, NY 11570