Two Tries Does the Trick for Pocantico School Budget

Voters had their say, again, on the Pocantico Hills Central School District budget Tuesday, but this time the result was different.

An amended budget passed the muster of 400 people who went to the polls with 250 voting for and 150 voting against.

One Pocantico Hills resident said the budget had earned his approval, but only because the school board had cut from the original proposed budget.

"They needed a finger wagging to tighten their belts," said the man, who asked not to be named for this article. "But I'm going to vote for it this time around."

The original Pocantico Hill School District budget was shot down by voters in a 53 percent to 47 percent loss with 407 voters participating (yes: 192; No: 215). It was one of the only budgets in Westchester county that called for an increase in spending, with a decrease in tax rates due to new commercial property that has fed into the district's coffers. The budget would have amount to $25,973,765 in spending, 10.35 percent more than the 2009-2010 budget.

A similar amount of voters went to the polls today but were obviously swayed by the school board's measures to trim from the proposed budget. 

The budget that has been approved calls for $25,457,451 in spending, still an increase of 8.16 percent, but $516,314 less in spending than the original budget.

The district said that it would amount to a 10.34 percent reduction in taxes for the town of Greenburgh and a 4.5 percent reduction in taxes for the town of Mt. Pleasant. A full summary of the budget can be found on the district website here.

Pocantico's interim District Superintendant Jay Scotto-Friedman, said that voting went well through the day.

When he was asked why the end result came out differently, he said that "more people had better information about the budget."

The draft 2010-2011 goals and the approved school budget are available for review on the district's website  at www.pocanticohills.org.