Residents Brave Elements to Vote for 2012-13 Mineola School Budget

Residents in Mineola were decidedly in favor of the Tuesday afternoon at the polls, though slightly more divided when it came down to who would be sitting on the for the next 3 years.

“You’ve always got to vote for the schools,” one woman said outside the , declining – like most – to give their names.

Inside and out of the rain, election workers reported that turnout had been light, numbering about 353 votes as of 4:30 p.m.

“We’re paying less than we did the previous year so I think they did wisely the way they did the budget,” another woman said. “My kids went through the school district and I always wanted them to have everything that they could possibly have so I would like the next generation of kids to have the same thing.” 

Though voters have the ability to vote for two of the three candidates running for the board of education, the woman only pulled the lever for one: . “She’s a wonderful person and a good board member,” she said, adding of fellow candidates and that “I don’t like one of them and the other one I don’t know.”

In Mineola the two candidates with the highest votes will gain seats on the board.

“John I know for a long time, I think he works very hard for the school district, another woman who voted in favor of the budget said “because I feel that we need to support the children. I think they did a nice job of keeping it very low,”  also casting her ballot for McGrath and Barnett whom  “I don’t know at all but I didn’t vote for Napolitano because I’m not thrilled with some of the things I’ve heard her say and some of her ideas; she’s a little too negative for my taste.”

One senior couple braved the rain to vote in favor of the budget “because we thought it was reasonable and we don’t like them to go into...” the woman said, her husband finishing up with “we don’t want any more cuts in the education system. I think we can afford to have a good education system with this budget.”

The proposed tax levy for 2012-13 for Mineola is 1.93 percent, in line with the state-imposed tax levy cap, or $76,242,180, an increase over 2011-12 of $1,443,803. The 2011-12 tax levy was $74,798,377. The total 2012-13 school budget is $83,992,180, a decrease of $229,458 or a 0.27 percent drop in spending from 2011-12.

The two also felt that Napolitano and Barnett “were very sincere and I felt they were very honest; they didn’t twist the facts.”