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Business & Tech

School District, Local Businesses Join Forces

In an effort to keep business in Sayville, district wants to create a cooperative effort between the two.

Dr. Walter Schartner, Sayville Public Schools superintendent, along with other members of the Sayville Board of Education, held a roundtable discussion with members of Sayville and West Sayville businesses on May 4 in an effort to start a cooperative force between them.

“I would like to try to create a culture where Sayville people try to keep business in Sayville,” Schartner said. A directory of services, likely online, with what businesses can offer was one idea. “It would be something that gets distributed to the community, or via a website, and would include information on how important it is to keep business in town.”

From the Sayville and West Sayville business community, attendees at the first monthly meeting included: Kerri McKeon and Lorraine Morrow from the ; Norm deVeneau, and board of education member; Ray and Nancy Kruse from Sayville Special Education Transition Services; Angelo Crisci from VIPadvantages.com; Mark DeAngelis from the West Sayville Boat Basin; Lois Cloud from L.I. Sports and Rehabilitation Center; Deidre Byrne, attorney; Geta MacArthur from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; Rosa Cascardo, attorney; and Charlie Grossetto from .

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“We want to at least be able to give the businesses in our town the first shot,” Schartner added. “If people have that directory handy, it will keep the business within the town.”

“Getting out in front of the customer is very important – that can be done with cell phones since everyone is connected,” Crisci said. “Out of sight, out of mind.” Social media sites like Facebook are another way to reach a large audience, as well as students.

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Lois Cloud talked a bit about the mentality of the consumer in this economy. “If you want Main Street to stay, you shop Main Street,” she said. “Not everybody has that mentality anymore.” Many attendees thought the idea of student internships/mentorships would be a great way to forge a bond between the schools and the businesses.

“Teaching work related skills needs to happen in the community; there really needs to be an open line of communication,” Ray Kruse said. “It makes the town more accepting and it brings loyalty to the businesses. Internships and mentoring is one way the school/business alliance could be very important.”

Home-based businesses, such as the two attorneys present at the meeting, would also like an opportunity to have their voices heard in the school environment. One suggestion was having their business featured on programs for concerts and other school-related events.

One issue that did arise over the course of the evening was a way for the school board to work with business owners when it comes to property tax increases. Mark DeAngelis from the West Sayville Boat Basin specifically pointed to a 20 percent increase in his commercial property taxes over the last two years. “The biggest single problem isn’t about soliciting customers; it’s the taxes. The business owners are held captive. We can’t turn a profit in Sayville because of our taxes. A place like Thornhill’s doesn’t go out of business because people don’t go there anymore; it’s because they can’t spread that tax burden out enough to compete with CVS or Walgreen’s. It seems like the local businesses are always the ones shouldering the school tax increases.”

Assistant superintendent John Belmonte was on hand to provide some numbers, however. The homestead (residential property) tax increase over the last 10 years has averaged 5.85 percent. The non-homestead (commercial property) tax rate averaged 4.43 percent over the same time period. Unfortunately, non-homestead has been hit harder during the last two years, but when looking at the numsbers over a 10-year period, the non-homestead tax rate change has been lower than the homestead in six out of the last 10 years.

The next meeting will be held on June 1 at 7 p.m. in the administration building.

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