______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
HERALD
After 57 Years in Va lley Stream, Andrew Papandre w is Retiring! Everything Must Go!
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Meet the V.S. Central prodigy
District 30 trustee is honored
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VOL. 35 NO. 24
JUNe 6 - 12, 2024
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11 Sunrise Plaza • Valle
y Stream Tel: 516-872-3575 Opposite the Valley Str eam train station
1258136
in stock merchandise
Village’s sour credit rating has improved able in meeting their financial debt obligations. Ba1 ratings indicate high-risk investments After years of mounting fis- and often reveal that a borrowcal stress leading to a massive er is substantially underperdowngrade in creditor confi- forming in its ability to pay dence, the Village of Valley interest over the life of a bond and retur n the Stream’s financial principal on time situation is bouncand in full. Those ing back. w i t h B a a 2 s h ow Moody’s Invesmoderate risk and t o r S e r v i c e, t h e therefore have a Manhattan-based higher seal of fir m that assigns dependability. credit ratings to As to the reason b o n d s e c u r i t i e s, for the rating also sees cause for upgrade, Moody’s a better fiscal pointed to “the vilfuture. In 2019, the la g e’s pro g ress village’s once-feted toward maintainAa credit rating ing an adequate from Moody’s financial position” Investor Services and the village’s sunk to Ba1, its stable economy lowest rating in with its “steady tax history and a level MiChAeL FOx base and socioecofinancial experts village treasurer nomic indicators regard as an investa n d a m o d e r at e ment liability. T h e r a t i n g r e m a i n e d leverage position” in its assessunchanged until recently when ment. The village has increased its less-than-stellar investment grade climbed one notch higher taxes and cut spending in the last few budg et cycles in from Ba1 to Baa2. attempts to rectify an uneven balance of village expenses and Why does good credit matter? Vi l l a g e s i n g o o d c re d i t income which has inflicted ecostanding are seen as dependContinued on page 13
By NORA TOSCANO
Intern
W
Keith Rossein/Herald
Faith in motion Blessed Sacrament clergy and parishioners took their faith to the streets of the village during their annual Eucharistic Procession last Sunday. Story, more photos, Page 10.
Students vent frustrations with FAFSA at local roundtable By JUAN LASSO jlasso@liherald.com
Syedah Ali, a Valley Stream South High School senior, curtly summed up what it was like applying to this year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid program, better known as FAFSA. “It was a hard process,” said Ali, a lowincome student, with aspirations to become a physician assistant. She knew college was financially out of reach for her parents. Determining how she could afford it led her to search for financial aid opportunities with eyes wide open. For Ali, that meant negotiating financial aid
packages from colleges, and — like millions of other students — navigating the federal student aid application. According to government officials, this year’s application process was intended to be easier than ever with the roll-out of a new site and a simplified and streamlined version of FASFA’s original 108-question application form. But for Ali and countless other students, that was far from the case.
Navigating the FAFSA maze Riddled with errors and bureaucratic slipups, the federal education department fumbled the processing of student information required by colleges to formulate financial aid offers, creContinued on page 11
e always have and will continue to strive to provide the best services for our residents at the most efficient cost.