Buscareno wins a seat on Northport’s BOE; 2018-19 budget approved
Northport voters have approved the district’s 2018-19 school budget and elected a new face to serve their community May 15.
2018-19 school budget
Northport and East Northport residents approved the district’s $166,810,381 budget for the upcoming 2018-19 school year, 2,287 votes to 754 votes. The budget contains a 2.15 percent year-to-year increase, or $3.5 million more than the current year.
The district’s approved spending plan will allow starting a new alternative high school program for students struggling with the traditional model and expand the district’s coteaching model across all grade levels. It will also be able to move forward with its one-to-one Chromebook initiative by providing personal laptops with Google applications to students entering ninth grade as well as purchasing a new piano for its music department. There are also funds set aside in the 2018-19 budget to purchase new athletic
equipment for student-athletes including lacrosse helmets, treadmills, ellipticals and additional automated external defibrillators.
Northport budget results
$166.8M budget: 2,287 Yes votes to 754 No votes
Proposition 2: 2,524 Yes votes to 555 No votes
Proposition 3: 2,403 Yes votes to 696 No votesBoard of education results
Victorria Buscareno: 2,195 votes
David Stein: 2,173 votes
David Badanes: 1,915 votes
Thomas Loughran: 1,612 votes
The average Northport homeowner will see their annual school taxes increase by an estimated $159 per year. This is based on the average home having an assessed value of $3,800, in which an assessed value is a dollar value placed on the property by the Town of Huntington solely for the purposes of calculating taxes based on comparable home sales and other factors.
Proposition 2
District voters cast their ballots in favor of Proposition 2, by 2,524 votes to 555 votes, Tuesday night. The measure will allow the district to take $900,000 out of the district’s capital reserve funds for infrastructure upgrades and repair. The list of districtwide projects includes fencing and gate replacement, door replacements, window replacement and heating and air conditioning unit upgrades and enhancements.
Proposition 3
Taxpayers also gave their stamp of approval to Proposition 3, by 2,403 votes to 696 votes. The district will be able to establish a new Capital Reserve III Fund. The board members said that the fund is necessary for several critical infrastructural improvements including roof replacements of its buildings, window replacement, bathroom replacement, masonry and concrete work, floor replacement, wall replacement, classroom renovations, library and multimedia center renovations and gym reconstruction among other projects. The district has put forth that a maximum of $20 million will be placed into this fund along with any investment income the account earns for a term of 10 years. Under the terms of Proposition 2, the district would move no more than $1 million from the remaining 2017-18 budget into the fund to get it started and invest no more than $2 million in each of the following school years.
Northport board of education
Northport residents will have one new community voice on their board of education for the 2018-19 school year.
Newcomer Victoria Buscareno received 2,195 votes, the highest of any of the candidates, and will take the place left open by current trustee Tammie Topel who did not run.
Buscareno is a Northport resident for the past 43 years and currently works as a seventh-grade special education teacher at South Woods Middle School in the Syosset school district. She has four children, one who graduated in 2017 and three who are currently students in the district.
Current board Vice President David Stein was re-elected with 2,173 votes was trustee David Badanes with 1,915 votes. Challenger Thomas Loughran trailed receiving only 1,612 votes. Buscareno and Stein were elected to serve for three years, and Badanes was elected to a two-year term.
