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Mostly Cloudy Sussman, Marcus, Blisko re-elected, school budget passes
Peninsula Public Library budget also passes, with 73% of the vote
District 15 voters approved the proposed Lawrence Public Schools budget on Tuesday and re-elected all three incumbents to the school board.
The $94.1 million budget passed with 60 percent of the vote, 3,528 “yes” votes — or 60 percent of the total — and 2,360 “no” votes. It was the fourth straight year Lawrence approved its budget on the first try after the district operated on austerity from 2003 to 2007, when voters repeatedly rejected the district's spending plans.
Incumbents Dr. David Sussman, Nahum Marcus and Dr. Sol Blisko all won new terms as Board of Education trustees. Sussman defeated challenger Annie Reyes of North Lawrence with 4,677 votes — 59 percent of the total cast — to 3,261. Marcus collected 58.5 percent of the votes to defeat Nicole Di Iorio of Inwood, 4,633 to 3,290; and Blisko bested Jay Silverstein of Atlantic Beach with 58 percent of the total votes, 4,623 to 3,337.
“We all thank the electorate for their confidence,” Sussman said after the totals were announced.
This will be Sussman’s sixth term on the board, to which he was first elected in 1995. Marcus and Blisko won their seats in 2007.
“The community has expressed its will,” Silverstein said, “and I accept its decision.”
The approved budget is 2.6 percent larger than the current spending plan of $91.7 million. The estimated increase in the tax levy, the total amount the district must raise in property taxes in order to meet expenses, is 4.9 percent. Board President Murray Forman has estimated that the tax rate could rise between 6 and 7 percent.
Had the budget failed Tuesday, the district would have needed to do a re-vote to avoid operating on austerity. A contingency budget this year would have meant no increase would have been allowed in the fiscal plan and would have resulted in a reduction of $2.4 million.
The $2.5 million Peninsula Public Library budget proposal, a 2.98 percent increase, passed with 72.8 percent of the vote, with 3,966 votes in support and 1,478 in opposition. PPL Vice President Joan Lepelstat and Trustee Stan Nussbaum ran unopposed and received 3,954 and 4,035 votes, respectively.
