School budgets pass amid record turnout

All local school district budgets passed last week despite some vociferous community opposition.

Elmont’s budget passed by a vote of 1,664 to 998, while Franklin Square passed, 1,574 votes to 1,003. Sewanhaka Central High School’s budget passed, 5,994 to 4,117.

According to Sewanhaka Superintendent Warren Meierdiercks, the turnout for the district’s budget vote was the largest in their history.

“We’re ecstatic that our budget was passed overwhelmingly by our taxpayers,” Meierdiercks said. “That was the largest turnout that we’ve ever had in the history of our district as far as our records go back.”

He added that the plurality of “yes” votes to “no” votes was also the district’s largest ever.

“We are thrilled and obviously we’re very happy that the taxpayers approved our spending plan,” he said.

Meierdiercks, who attended dozens of community meetings to pitch the district’s budget ,said he was well aware that many taxpayers were concerned about the size of the budget and its tax levy increase.

He said that vocal community members who had made their voices heard would be anything but ignored as the district moved forward into the new fiscal year.

“We’re concerned about what our taxpayers have said and the board has listened very carefully,” he said. “we’ll be taking everything into consideration [for the next budget cycle].”

Superintendent Al Harper said that the Board of Education is never assured of what’s going to happen until the votes come in.

“We’re always concerned. We’re never sure what’s going to happen, so we were ecstatic when the budget did pass,” Harper said. “We are deeply indebted to the public.”

Harper said he was not surprised by the number of people who came out to vote, and credited the large turnout to the sheer number of meetings that he and other board members attended to educate local residents on the ins and outs of the budget.

“I was surprised that the passage was as firm as it was, but I wasn’t surprised at the turnout,” he said. “I saw more people this year than I ever have in the past. We just went out and sold it and saw more parents and groups than we ever have before.”