Schools

Clarkstown School Budget Passes By Wide Margin

Unofficial results from Tuesday’s vote showed the Clarkstown School Budget for 2013-2014 passing by a vote of 2,011 in favor to 881 opposed. Incumbents Diane Hoeneveld and Robert Carlucci were both re-elected to the board. They did not have opponents.  

The unofficial margin of those supporting the budget was 69.54 percent compared to 30.46 against. The percentage of voters in favor of the 195,142,980 budget was close to last year’s 68.72 percent. Although School Superintendent Dr. J. Thomas Morton was pleased with passage of the budget he expressed disappointment with the voter turnout of 2,892. In 2012 there were 4,681 people who cast ballots.  

“Obviously we’re pleased to have 70 percent support of the budget,” he said.  
Morton added the board worked hard to put together a budget they thought the public would support. He said their concern had been complacency of the voters because there was no controversy, “no carnival atmosphere at board meetings, no program or teacher cuts.  

Carlucci won re-election to his second term with 2,135 votes. Hoeneveld was re-elected to her fourth term with 1,900 votes. School board members serve three-year terms.

Hoeneveld was pleased with the results.   

“I’m so happy the budget passed,” she said.  “It was my main concern.” 

Under the new spending plan, the tax levy will increase 2.9 percent over the current tax levy.  

The largest turnout at the district's four poll locations was at Clarkstown North High School with 1,157 voters. Link Elementary School followed with 748 voters, then West Nyack Elementary with 571 and Congers Elementary with 416.  

The budget for 2013-2014 maintains staff and programs and will use between $11 and $12 million from district reserve funds to close the gap between revenues and expenses. It includes about $600,000 for security and safety projects and allocates $1 million from reserve funds for school building roof replacements.  


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here