South Country Doings
South Country Doings
Voters across Long Island approved school budgets at a 95
percent clip Tuesday,
confirming widespread predictions that residents would support spending plans
held to modest increases by state-imposed tax caps.
Budgets were defeated, however, in six of the seven Island
school systems that
attempted to bust their district's tax-cap limits.........
As voters traipsed in and out of Bellport Middle School in the
South Country district,
they spoke of the choice of supporting the school budget or reining in costs.
"I'm tired of paying taxes for all these schools," said Leila
Bryant of Bellport village,
who noted that she and her children attended Catholic schools.
"It looks to me . . . [the budget] is all teacher salaries. I want to see higher scores, higher marks."
And Tom Quinn of Bellport said he was upset about the rise in
taxes.
"It's getting to the tipping point where I can't sell my house because the taxes
are too high," he said.
*South Country's $119.5 million budget garnered a 54.1 percent
majority,
also short of the needed 60 percent. It would have raised taxes 3 percent,
beyond its 0.98 percent cap.
| Budget Result | Vote | Proposed 2013-14 Budget |
Change from 2012-13 |
Proposed tax levy 2013-14 |
Tax change from 2012-13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| failed* | 1538-1307 | $119,585,724 | 4.10% | $56,304,249 | 2.97% |
Elected candidates
Carol Papandrea Hermann (1,363, winner)
Rocco DeVito (1,232, winner)
Julio C. Morales (1,146, winner)
Marian McKenna (809)
Allison Stines (782)
Lawrence T. Hoff (607)
Owen Durney (602)
Gino Cruz (579)
Tim Brower (415).
Proposition 2 was defeated (641-2,161).
Proposition 3 passed (1,840-946).
