Schools

Library and School Budgets Pass by Large Margin

Results of write-in school board election not expected until Wednesday.

This story was posted and written by Edward Robinson. Chris Boyle also contributed to this report.

Voters in the Massapequa School District approved a $186 million budget for 2013-14 on Tuesday night, while the outcome of the write-in vote for a school board seat will likely remain in doubt until Wednesday, school officials said.

The budget passed 69 percent to 30 percent with a handful of voters not casting ballots in the election. There were 2,769 yes votes and 1,215 no votes cast.

It feels really, really good to pass the budget," said Charles Sulc, who was witnessing his las budget vote as Massapequa Schools Superintendent. "We're appreciative with what the community has supported us with, in terms of the numbers tonight...it's almost a 70 percent margin that voted yes, and that's a tremendous success rate. So, we're very, very pleased."

The spending plan represents a 1.49 percent increase over the 2012-13 budget and the tax levy came in at 3.19 percent, just under the maximum amount the state tax cap law allowed the district.

It was a difficult budget season for the district, as officials were initially looking at a nearly $6 million budget gap, later lowered by an increase in state aid.

One of the measures that helped close the act was the elimination of 35 teaching positions.  The layoffs remained in place even after the restoration of state aid as district officials said they were necessary due to a drop in school enrollment.

While the budget campaign was often painful, the campaign for the one school board up for grabs was unusual.

Officials said the outcome of the write-in vote, which was believed to be a contest between incumbent Board Vice President Tim Taylor and former Board President Christine Lupetin Perrino, would not be known until sometime Wednesday morning.

The election had no official candidates on the ballot. Taylor was the only candidate to pick up nominating petitions, according to District Clerk Anne Marie Bellizzi, but he missed the deadline for filing the petitions by five minutes.

Taylor, who had mulled not running, let it be known he would be considered as a write-in candidate and Perrino threw her hat into the ring as a write-in candidate a few days later.

Turnout was light to moderate in the election with several voters telling Patch they chose not to cast a vote in the write-in election.

“The explanation as to why there were no candidates was too long,” one voter said.

As usual, many voters said their tax bill was the motivating factor behind their vote, “My taxes are too high, has anybody said they’re too low?” said Meghan Rudy, 32, who took her 1-year-old daughter to the polls.  

Many of the voters who indicated they wanted to see the budget approved indicated that they were in favor of strong public schools. 

One of those voters, Marge Morris, said she had another reason for coming out. 
“I’m a librarian,” she said. “I always want to support our library budget.”

The $5.8 million library budget, which included a 2.1 percent tax levy increase, also under the state cap, passed  by a 74 to 26 percent margin with 2,902 yes votes and 1,017 no votes.

Rosemary Gensler and Anthony Santabarbara were elected to the two library trustee positions on the ballot. Gensler had 2,293 votes, while SantaBarbara had 2,219.


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