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PV and Hillsdale budgets rejected
Voters turned out to vote for their board candidates and school budgets yesterday, with most towns voting to approve the budget. All second questions failed,
Park Ridge ’s falling short by one percent, and the Pascack Valley Regional budget and Hillsdale local budget were both rejected by voters.
The unofficial results provided by borough clerks and school boards are printed below.
Emerson
School Budget
The
Emerson
School District ’s proposed budget totaling $18,014,215 passed on Tuesday, April 15, by a vote of 305 to 231. The budget means that the owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $519,000 will owe $5,876 in school taxes, a $162 increase over last year.
John DiNiro and Teresa Giacalone were reelected in an uncontested race.
– Karen F. Mrnarevic
Hillsdale
School Budget
The local school budget in Hillsdale was defeated by a vote of 939 to 876 last night.
The budget called for a tax increase of $179 on the average assessed home of $579,000 in the borough. The total amount of revenue to be raised through taxation would have been $15,849,966, a $609,614 increase over last year. The budget included money for new textbooks, computers and new staff members, including one new math teacher for the middle school, who the board wanted to add in response to last year’s low test scores.
The mayor and council will review the defeated budget and make recommended cuts. While the board of education does not have to make the cuts from the same line items that the council chooses, it does have to cut the same dollar amount recommended by the council.
The second question, which requires a supermajority of 60 percent to pass, failed to receive a simple majority and was defeated by a vote of 867 to 906.
The second question asked for an additional $80,000 to help pay for bathroom renovations at
George
G.
White
School , a projected estimated to be $200,000 total. The district already had the $80,000 needed leftover from a previous referendum, but was required by state law to use it to pay off debt and request it again from the voters.
When the budget was introduced, Superintendent Anthony DeNorchia said he did not know what the board would do if the second question failed, but he suggested that the district might still be able to renovate two of the four bathrooms.
– Kevin Glynn
Montvale Board of Education
Francesco Campana, John Mark Cortazzo and Joan S. Gifas came out on top as three incumbents and three challengers vied for three seats on Montvale’s local Board of Education. Campana led the voting with 577 votes, while Cortazzo received 562, Gifas received 528, Lisa Friedman received 508, Donna Skoog received 491 and Stephanie Buckley received 375.
Incumbent Francesco F. Campana, 44, has lived in Montvale for 14 years and has four children in the local school system. Campana said he ran for reelection to continue the work he has done as a board member for the past three years, particularly with regard to finance. He said he wants to continue to find ways to keep costs low while maintaining small class sizes. He said his greatest attribute is his willingness to speak his mind even if his views are not popular.
Incumbent John Mark Cortazzo, 47, has lived in Montvale for 10 years and has two children in the local school system. Cortazzo said he ran for reelection because he believes he has offered a different point of view on various issues in his past three years of service and because he is the most fiscally conservative board member. Cortazzo said that classroom space and increasing enrollment is the biggest problem facing the BOE today and proposed the formation of a committee, comprised of school administration and faculty as well as BOE members and parents, to find a cost-effective solution.
Challenger Joan S. Gifas, 38, has lived in Montvale for 10 years and has two children in the local school system. Gifas, who has served on the Montvale Educational Foundation, said that she ran for a seat on the BOE because she thinks she can offer insight into alternative spending and saving practices as well as help to facilitate camaraderie between board members. Gifas said that goals include maintaining small class sizes, expanding technology, particularly the use of interactive whiteboards, and offering a different perspective.
– Maggie Fazeli Fard
Montvale
School Budget
The local Montvale school budget of $14,602,067 for the 2008-2009 school year passed by 695 to 580 votes. $12,393,008 will be raised by taxes, translating to an increase of $85.10 on the average assessed home of $651,710.
– Maggie Fazeli Fard
Park Ridge Board of Education
In
Park Ridge , there were five candidates running for three seats. Robert Sileo, Barbara von Bradsky, and Frank Church prevailed, receiving 1,041, 732, and 673 votes, respectively. Lisa Verducci and Sue Tudisco received 667 and 540 votes in defeat. The unofficial count includes absentee ballots, but not provisional.
Frank Church, a 19-year resident of the borough, has served on the board since August 2001. During his re-election campaign, his said goals during his third full term would be to continue enhancing the quality of education in the district while maintaining fiscal responsibility, and improving the district’s facilities.
Robert Sileo, a resident for 10 years, said he was seeking a term on the board primarily to ensure that his two children received an “outstanding educational program.” He was a teacher for 20 years and, for the past eight years, has been an elementary school principal and has experience school law, finance, and curriculum, as well managing a school through several construction projects, he said.
Barbara von Bradsky, a 20-year resident, has served on the board for the past six years. She said she was seeking her third term because the public school system is important to both its students and to the community. While serving on the board, she has had experience with budgets, state and federal mandates, and working with committees whose members included residents and staff. She said public education is a joint venture among students, staff and the community, all of whom, “must have a voice.”
– Kathryn A. Burger
Park Ridge Budget
Voters approved the proposed tax levy of $21,093,934 to fund district operations for the 2008-2009 school year by a vote of 986 to 585. The increase over last year’s tax levy is $1,021,549, the lowest increase in the past seven years. School taxes on a home assessed at the borough’s average of $513,000 will increase by $264.
By a vote of 925 for to 635 against, voters rejected the Second Question that asked taxpayers to fund an additional $310,000 in spending that would have increased taxes on the average home by $47.
Although more people voted for the question than against it, in order to pass, a supermajority – at least 60 percent of voters – was needed, rather than a simple majority of more than half. The vote came in just short at 59 percent.
– Kathryn A. Burger
River
Vale
School Budget
The local River Vale school budget of $19,159,309 for the 2008-2009 school year passed by 795 to 659 votes. $16,810,226 will be raised by taxes, translating to an increase of $186.90 on the average assessed home of $594,000.
Additionally, a two-part second question, requiring 60 percent voter approval of $81,000 in funding, was defeated, despite having a simple majority, receiving 736 votes for and 700 votes against. The second question sought $25,000 in funding to increase school security and $56,000 to hire part-time health and speech teachers.
These counts do not include absentee ballots.
– Maggie Fazeli Fard
Woodcliff
Lake
School Budget
The
Woodcliff
Lake local k-8 school district’s proposed budget, which totals $13,152,992, passed on Tuesday, April 15, by a vote of 327 to 245. The owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $624,000 will owe $4,732 in local school taxes, $43 less than last year.
Robert Nathin and Donna Abene were reelected in uncontested races.
– Karen F. Mrnarevic
Pascack
Valley Regional BOE - Hillsdale
Hillsdale had the only contested seat this year for the Pascack Valley Regional High School Board of Education, with Alfred J. Murphy, Jr. challenging incumbent Joan D’Elia, who filled an unexpired seat two years ago. Murphy received 1,148 votes to win the seat, defeating D’Elia, who received 930 votes in the loss.
Murphy said he was running out of a sense of civic duty. “As a citizen I have a responsibility to participate in our government,” he said. “Too many people fought, sacrificed and died for the freedom that we enjoy.”
– Kevin Glynn
Pascack
Valley
Regional
School Budget
The Pascack Valley Regional School Budget was defeated by the vote of 2,649 to 2,548.
The budget called for total spending of $42,884,193, of which $38,799,193 would have been raised through taxation.
The budget would have caused an $11 increase on the averaged assessed home in Hillsdale, a $49 increase in Montvale, $119 in
Woodcliff
Lake , and a $48.45 decrease in River Vale.
Residents of Hillsdale caused some commotion in the days leading up to the election when a line item for field lighting appeared in the 2008-09 budget without explanation. Residents were concerned over quality of life issues that the lighting could cause as well as the added expense. The board of education provided a special presentation on the field lighting on Monday, April 7, and Superintendent Benedict Tantillo explained that the finances for the lighting, which will cost an estimated $250,000, were raised in previous budgets and through donations.
– Kevin Glynn
Westwood Regional Board of Education
This year, the
Westwood
Regional
School District saw three Board of Education seats up for grabs. Two of those seats were open to candidates from the
Township of
Washington ; vying for them were incumbents Barbara Gregory and Bernadette Koski and challengers Darlene Mandeville, Andrew Restivo, Louis Montresor and Abbe Lewites. In Westwood, incumbent Lee-Ann Schaadt and challenger Jaimie Baker battled for a single open seat.
Westwood election
Incumbent Lee-Ann Schaadt triumphed over her challenger, Jaimie Baker, receiving 539 votes. Baker received 326 votes.
Schaadt has said that her motivation for running for reelection was to remain involved and see through the changes she has helped bring about. “I really feel that my participation would help us maintain the positive trajectory we are on,” she said. Schaadt enthusiastically supports the administration in its efforts to introduce new class offerings at the Jr./Sr. High School, saying, “these are the things they [the students] need to be exposed to. We are trying to broaden their horizons.”
– Karen F. Mrnarevic
Township of
Washington election
Incumbent Barbara Gregory and challenger Darlene Mandeville won the election, receiving 463 votes and 339 votes, respectively. Bernadette Koski received 324 votes, Abbe Lewites 273, Louis Montresor 215, and Andrew Restivo, 221.
Gregory, a former River Vale teacher, has served on the Westwood Regional Board of Education since 1990. Gregory has cited the new direction the board has recently taken as the reason why she chose to run again. “It is exciting times for the board of education,” Gregory said. “We are a very unified and well-working team. We have a dynamic new administration with some new dynamic ideas. Things are really heading up and I would like to be here to be involved with it.”
Mandeville unseated Bernadette Koski, winning her first term on the board. A borough resident for the past 17 years, Mandeville has four children in the school system. Mandeville looks forward to applying her experience working on the
Pascack
Valley
Cooperative
Nursery School board of directors to Westwood Regional. Mandeville said she hope to “make education in the district better for each and every child.”
– Megan Burrow
Westwood Regional Budget
The Westwood Regional budget for the 2008/2009 school year of approximately $46 million passed by 1,372 votes to 1,016 votes. The tax increase on the average assessed home will be $208 in Westwood and $187 in
Township of
Washington .
The second question, which needed 60 percent of the vote to pass, failed receiving 1,119 votes for and 1,099 votes against, a majority of only 50.5 percent. The supplemental money would have expanded Westwood Regional’s elementary programs by hiring of two library/media specialists, a world language teacher, an art teacher and a music teacher, allowing the district to expand its full-day kindergarten program. The second question would have cost the average homeowner in Westwood an additional $32.88 and an additional $39.96 in
Washington
Township .
– Megan Burrow
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