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BEDFORD, N.Y. Residents of the Bedford Central School District will go to the polls Tuesday to vote on the proposed 2012-13 school budget and for candidates in three uncontested races for open seats on the board of education.
The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the districts elementary schools: Bedford Hills Elementary School, 123 Babbitt Road, Bedford Hills; Bedford Village Elementary School, 45 Court Road, Bedford; Mount Kisco Elementary School, 47 West Hyatt Ave., Mount Kisco; Pound Ridge Elementary School, 7 Pound Ridge Road, Pound Ridge; and West Patent Elementary School, 80 W. Patent Road, Bedford Hills. Voters should cast their ballots at the elementary school serving their attendance district.
The 2012-13 budget is an approximately $122.7 million spending package that calls for a 2.7 percent increase in the tax levy. The district said the budget remains below the new 2 percent tax cap passed by the state legislature in June, due to exemptions made for changes in the tax base, as well as for employee pension contributions and capital projects.
If passed, the budget would eliminate 55 positions a number that includes the 37 transportation workers who will lose their jobs when the district outsources all of its transportation to Towne Bus Corp, a move that school officials said will save the district $3.7 million in the next five years. The budget proposed to voters reflects an increase of 3.1 percent from last years budget plan.
In the school board race, voters will elect three candidates, all of whom are running unopposed. Current board president Susan Elion Wollin, of Bedford Village, is seeking election for another term, and current board member Andrew Bracco, of Mount Kisco, is running to officially gain the seat to which he was appointed when Mark Chernis resigned last year.
Newcomer Lee Goldstein, of Pound Ridge, who also tried for Chernis's seat, will run for the position on the board being vacated by Graham Anderson this year. Anderson declined to run again.
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