Herricks Passes 2012-13 Budget with Super Majority

The Herricks School District did not go out with a budget that would go above the state-imposed tax levy cap, not requiring a supermajority of 60 percent of greater to pass.

That didn’t stop it from achieveing it Tuesday night, however.

Voters overwhelmingly passed the 2012-13 budget, something that hasn't happened in recent memory, Assistant Superintendent Helen Costigan said after tabulating the votes in the  gymnasium.

The budget passed with a vote of 1,661-949. To achieve the 60 percent super majority, it would have needed 1,566 people in favor of the budget, Costigan calculated.

The Herricks school budget was under the 2 percent tax cap with a  in the levy; the tax cap allows for some exceptions so some levies can be over two percent but still within the cap. The total 2012-13 Herricks school budget was .

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When Herricks school board President Christine Turner was asked if she would have liked to have increased the levy and budget since a super majority was received, she said that she thought this budget was “solid” and is glad that the budget was done the way it was currently proposed.

There were only two school board candidates on the ballot this year – Brian Hassan and Nancy Feinstein – who were running for two chairs vacated by .

Hassan received 1,473 votes while Feinstein got 1,616 votes. There were nine additional votes cast – six for Brian Dunn, who  due to health reasons, and three for Grisafi.

Hassan noted that despite running for the seat unopposed, he felt “overwhelmed” at being elected to the school board and that his first plan of action is to attend seminars with the board members.