Updated: Katonah Lewisboro Voters Approve Budget

Katonah-Lewisboro voters have spoken. Again. But this time they passed the $109 million school board budget, a 2,624 to 2,008.

The district was one of four Westchester districts with failed budgets on May 18. The June 15 vote drew 106 more voters as compared to last month's trip to the polls.

Goldens Bridge resident David Barnes, who has had three children graduate from the district, voted no the first go-round but changed his mind for the second budget. "I was glad to see it cut down—this was a more reasonable increase," he said.

"It's a good news vote," Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Roelle told Patch Tuesday evening. It's a victory for kids and for schools. We are mindful that the community is concerned with our costs, and that it took us two votes to get it right," he said. Now that they have a budget in place for 2010-11, he said they'll begin planning one for 2011-12.

The budget passed comfortably by 671 votes, or about 57 percent.

The last budget vote resulted in passing the budget at Increase Miller and Katonah, but not at Lewisboro and Meadow Pond. This time, Meadow Pond stood alone in its rejection of the budget, with a 454 to 352 defeat.

It passed in Katonah 863 to 446—the widest margin, and at Increase Miller, 719 to 455. At Lewisboro, where it was defeated the first time, it was almost an even split, with a narrow 690 to 653 vote.

The total number of voters, 4,631, represents approximately 31 percent of registered voters in the community, according to Westchester Board of Elections records, which list 15,042 registered voters. That may include some duplicate records with different addresses, according to district clerk, Kimberly Monzon.

The budget represents a 1.36 percent increase in spending for next year, and includes an overall tax levy of 1.86 percent. Approximately 22 teachers will be eliminated.

The budget passed after months of public forums and negotiations. In recent weeks, the district stepped up the information flow released about the budget, posting multiple documents to their website answering budget-related questions, including details on the triple tripping bus proposal.

"I thought it would pass this time," said board member Peter Breslin. "But I'm happy that it was a good turnout. We can all breathe easier and start to plan for next year."

The board has their work cut out for them—both with the development of next year's budget, given the likelihood of reduced state aid and other revenues--and the negotiation of the support staff and the teacher contracts looming ahead. More than a few voters Patch talked with yesterday cited their displeasure with contracts as a reason for voting no.

A female voter at LES who wished to remain anonymous said she had been a budget supporter for a long time, but voted no both times to what she felt were budgets "unresponsive to the economic environment." In addition, she said that contracts needed to better reflect working conditions many are experiencing in tough times.

John and Annamaria Kettner of Lewisboro also voted no twice. "We need better ways to consolidate services and the spending needs to stop," they said.

But Alison Klyburne of Lewisboro said she felt the taxpayers get a lot of bang for their buck."I voted yes—we sent a message the first time," she said.

Board President Michael Gordon expressed his thanks to the community today for help in reaching a "fair and equitable budget." He also said he was grateful to everyone who worked to increase voter turnout. "We are fortunate indeed to live in a community that values education and, at the same time, recognizes the imperative to balance high quality programming and leadership with fiscal restraint," he said via email.

The results were made official June 16 in a district announcment.

The next board of education meeting will be held June 17 at 7:45 p.m. at the John Jay High School library.

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