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Lindenhurst voters turn down school district budget The Lindenhurst School Board will be meeting this week to consider its options in face of a budget defeat yesterday. Superintendent of Schools Neil Lederer said he was disappointed at the outcome of the vote, and believes it was due, in part, to the recent proposal for a new firehouse in the community, which was roundly defeated last month. "I think the concerns for that project emboldened people and they continued on by taking it out on the school budget," said Lederer, adding that there was also some voter apathy out there. "I don't think people with a vested interest in the community got out in the numbers we needed," he said. "I thought we were in trouble all along because of the economy, but I think this defeat did kids a disservice." The district has the option of going to a contingency budget, which would require that the district cut spending by approximately $1.4 million. It can also hold a revote, putting up the same budget, which calls for $6.9 million in more spending for the 2008-09 school year, or a new one that increases spending somewhere below that level. If a second budget is rejected, the district will have to go to a contingency plan automatically under state law. The district has already cut 24 teaching positions and had cut $5 million from its initial proposal of $139 million. The 5.39 percent increase in spending would have raised the tax rate in the district from $162.03 to $170.55, or approximately $323 more a year in school taxes on a home assessed at $3,800. "I made 25 community presentations about this budget," said Lederer. "People don't realize that this will hurt our Little League, and Soccer teams who will have to pay to use our fields (under contingency), as well as athletics and summer school." For his part Lederer said he thinks he will support putting up another budget with a lower rate of increased spending. In Babylon, the budget passed 865 to 691, and incumbents Anderson, Katz and Brunjes were reelected. (See related story). In West Islip, incumbent Barbara Heine lost her bid for reelection to Robert Ulrich, 1,972 to 1,182. The West Islip School budget passed 2,376 to 936. (See related story).
Also approving budgets were residents in Copiague, North Babylon, West Babylon, and Deer Park, where two incumbents, Dennis Ryan and Ron Wayne, staved off a challenge from two candidates backed by the teachers union.
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