Port Washington School Budget Vote Results Announced

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — The Port Washington Union Free School District has a new budget, and results were also announced in the Board of Education trustee election.

Voters on Tuesday passed the 2020-21 proposed budget by a vote of 4,756 in favor to 1,901 against.

In the school board election, the two winners were challenger Julie Epstein with 4,068 votes and incumbent Rachael Gilliar with 3,697 votes. Challenger Adam Block received 2,921 votes and Christina Nadolne received 1,782 votes.

Incumbent Dave Kerpen did not seek re-election.

As Patch previously reported, the proposal did not take into consideration the district's pre-pandemic plan of adding several staffers and replacing the roof at South Salem Elementary School, as well as sections at John Philip Sousa Elementary School and Paul D. Schreiber High School.

The 2020-21 draft budget includes cuts to contractual codes at all seven schools. The complete roof replacement at South Salem will now be partially replaced and nine permanent substitutes will not be brought back. Moreover, track resurfacing was removed from the budget, as was ongoing asbestos planning and transportation for field trips, among other cuts.

Because the Port Washington post office made its last delivery to the district, ballots were not accepted after Tuesday afternoon, including those mailed and hand-delivered.

"Based on the advice of counsel, it is appropriate for us to begin counting our 6,700 ballots," the district clerk said.

Budget Overview

• Budget dollar increase: $2.7 million
• Budget percent increase: 1.66 percent
• Levy dollar increase: $2.8 million (40 percent below the tax cap)
• Levy percent increase: 1.99 percent
• Impact on average home: $255

The levy is the amount of the budget paid for by taxpayers. It is not the total cost of the budget. The district applies all state aid and other sources of revenue and the balance becomes the tax levy.

Cuomo has warned that the economic effect of the shutdown imposed to curb the outbreak could mean much less money available for state education aid. The state will be assessing and adjusting its budget several times in the course of 2020. Cuomo's last estimate was that state aid would be 20 percent lower than already promised.

Click here to see more details on the Port Washington Union Free School District proposed budget.