By: Doug Miller
The school budget received 1,234 yes votes and 1,059 nos - the numbers were still unofficial as the Herald went to press - while the library budget margin was 1,259 to 937. Absentee ballots had not been counted as of press time.
Despite the close vote, Superintendent of Schools Ron Friedman said he was just happy to have the budget passed. "We know it's very tough on the taxpayers, who had to pay out of their own pockets for the difficulties caused by Nassau County's flawed reassessment," Friedman said. "But we also know how much this community cherishes education, and how proud they are of how well our students are doing in our schools."
Eugene Colon, an attorney and former counsel to the library's Board of Trustees, was elected to a five-year term. Warren Vegh, a teacher with a successful pool business, was elected to the board to complete an unexpired three-year term. Colon received 1,237 votes, while Vegh garnered 1,061. Siegfried C. Adler, who was appointed to the board late last year to fill a vacancy, was not re-elected, receiving 936 votes.
"I'm very gratified," Colon said of winning his first election ever. "This will make my mother very happy."
School board President Steven Weitz ran unopposed for another three-year term, and received 1,686 votes.
The school budget vote came down to geography. Voters west of Long Beach Road and in Point Lookout were generally unsympathetic. In the West School precinct, the voting was 106 for, 185 against; at Lindell School it was 131-146, and at West Park it was 115-143. The voting in Point Lookout was 57 for, 132 against.
Lido went the other way, coming in at 214 for and 93 against. Voters at the East School voted yes by a 292-to-193 margin, while voters at Temple Emanu-El voted 242-137 in favor.
"I'd like to thank the community for supporting education and giving us the resources we desperately need to educate the kids in this community," Weitz said. "I'm happy our new superintendent, Dr. Robert Greenberg, is coming onboard in an atmosphere of community support for education."
While Long Beach dodged a bullet, other Nassau County districts were not so lucky: More than one-third of the county's proposed school budgets were rejected. Voters in Oceanside turned down a budget that called for a 9 percent increase. As of Wednesday morning, the unofficial margin of defeat was 10 votes. Meanwhile, voters in Valley Stream's School District 13 rejected their proposed 9.9 percent increase.
