Merrick Residents Approve School Budgets

Voters in Merrick went to the polls Tuesday and approved the school budgets for the Merrick, North Merrick and Bellmore-Merrick Central High School school districts.

In the Merrick School District, the $49.2 million budget is a 2.43 percent increase over the current year's spending plan of $48.1 million. Voters approved the budget 567 to 195. To finance the budget, the tax levy is increasing 1.77 percent, from $38.1 million to $38.7 million.

For the North Merrick School District, voters approved the $31.4 million budget 901 to 283. The budget is up from the current $30.8 million spending plan. The tax levy also increased, going from $21.4 million to $22 million.

North Merrick voters also cast ballots for Proposition 2, which would change future Board of Education trustee votes to at-large elections, where pools of candidates run for all available seats. The current system treats each seat as an independent "office," and people have to run for specific seats. That measure also passed, 808 to 323.

And in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, the budget was also approved, 3,019 to 1.157. The $153.7 million budget is a 3.99 percent increase over the current $147.8 million plan. The tax levy is increasing from $110.5 million to $113.8 — a 2.98 percent increase that is lower than the districts tax levy cap.

Central High School District voters also cast ballots for Proposition 2, which allows the district to spend $1.51 million it already has in its Capital Reserve Fund. The proposition passed, 3,183 to 917.

Voters also cast their ballots for Board of Education Trustees. In Merrick, candidates Jill Levine and Butch Yamali received 614 votes and 506 votes, respectively.

In North Merrick, two of the three incumbents were unseated. Incumbent Jonathan Butler was defeated by challenger Edward Corona 713 to 409. Lisa Katz was defeated by Tracey Miller, earning just 413 votes to Miller's 702. A third incumbent trustee, Todd Ransom, ran unopposed, and received 602 votes.

The board of the Central High School District is comprised of board members from Bellmore, North Bellmore, Merrick and North Merrick school districts, and is not directly voted for.

Photo: Patch