School Budgets & Boards Up for Voter Approval

Voting will be different this year for those residing in the Florida, Greenwood Lake and Warwick school districts. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, voting on school budgets and the make-up of their Boards of Education will be by absentee ballot only. Absentee ballots must be received by the Office of the District Clerk no later than 5 p.m. on Tues., Jun. 9.

Florida

In the Florida Union Free School District, voters are being asked to approve the proposed $$22,699,765 budget, an increase of .055 percent over last year’s budget ($22,687.220) and reflects a 2.29 percent increase in the tax levy for the 2020-21 school year.

   Incumbent Coleen Connolly is running unopposed for a seat on the school board for a three-year term. 

Also on the ballot is one proposition: Shall the Board of Education of the Florida Union Free School District, Orange County, New York, be authorized to purchase two (2) 28-passenger or smaller school buses, including necessary equipment, at a maximum estimated cost of $130,000, to replace two 14-year old buses; and that the sum of $130,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be raised by the levy of a tax upon the taxable property of the School District and collected in annual installments as provided in Section 416 of the Education Law, and in anticipation of such tax, obligations of said School District shall be issued?

Greenwood Lake

The Greenwood Lake Union Free School District is proposing a budget of $26,360,265.

  There are six candidates running for the three open seats on the School Board: Mathew Buckley, Michele Kayser, Aaron Nowak, Ron Sommer, Kevin Tuhy, and Tracey Velez.

Warwick

Voters in the Warwick Valley Central School District will decide whether or not to approve the District’s proposed 2020-21 budget of $94,440,394, a decrease of 0.68 percent over the current year budget which is $95,089,284.

In addition, four candidates are seeking the three available school board seats for a three-year term: Luis Abramson, John Garcia, Robert Howe, and Dory Masefield.

Also on the ballot is one proposition: Shall the Board of Education of the Warwick Valley Central School District be authorized to: (a) acquire five (5) school buses and incidental equipment at a maximum aggregate cost of $599,000; (b)  expend such sums for such purpose; (c) expend from the Capital Bus Reserve an amount not to exceed $300,000 for such purpose; (d) levy the necessary tax therefor, to be levied and collected in such amounts as may be determined by the Board of Education taking into account state aid received and amounts disbursed from the capital reserve fund; and (e) in anticipation of the collection of such tax, to issue bonds and notes of the District at one time or from time to time in the principal amount not to exceed $299,000, and to levy a tax to pay the interest on such obligations when due?