North Bellmore School Budget Fail: What Comes Next?

On Tuesday night, the North Bellmore School District's budget failed, because it didn't get the 60 percent of the vote that it needed to pass. Now, the district gets to try again.

Because of the citizen-submitted ballot propositions to change the district's transportation policy, the proposed 2018-19 budget needed to exceed the tax cap, which means it needed 60 percent of the vote to pass. It received 51.8 percent. However, the ballot initiative to keep the transportation plan as it currently is received resounding support.

Under state law, the district has another opportunity, on June 19, to put the budget up for a second vote. The Board of Education can make changes to the proposed spending plan to make it more palatable to the public, or just put up the same budget.

Superintendent Marie Testa said that the district would be holding a meeting on Tuesday, May 22 to discuss its options, which the public is welcome to attend. Though it hasn't been officially decided yet, it's likely that the district will put the same budget forward, but without the transportation changes.

By removing the added costs that busing more children added, the budget would only need a simple majority to pass, which it already received. If it received the same support on June 19, the budget would be adopted.

However, if the budget fails again, then the district would be forced to use an austerity budget. That means there would be no increase, and the district would have to likely make substantial cuts to pay for its mandatory expense increases, like contractual obligations.

Photo: Patch