Voters in Cheektowaga and Eden central school districts will have a second chance to decide on their budgets.
The school boards in each district scheduled a revote on their defeated budgets for July 28, the date set by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for revotes for the school budgets that were defeated June 9. The two Erie County districts were among nine in the state with budget proposals that voters did not pass.
Unlike the first vote, in which districts were required to send absentee ballots to every eligible voter, this election will have a mix of absentee and in-person voting.
Cuomo's executive order requires the districts to send postcards to residents with information on the revote, date of the budget hearing, the definition of a qualified voter and instructions for applying for an absentee ballot. If the district has a valid email address of the resident, the postcard may be emailed instead.
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It cost Eden about $18,000 for the June 9 election, according to Finance Director Laura Feldman. She told the School Board last week an in-person vote costs about $4,000.
And former Superintendent Sandra Anzalone said last week the district mailed 6,875 ballots for the June vote. While 2,235 were returned, a far greater turnout than any other school election, two-thirds of eligible voters did not vote, she said.
Eden's $32.36 million budget was defeated by 26 votes, yet two propositions for buses, equipment and technology were approved. The tax levy would have increased by 2%.
Cheektowaga's $47.2 million budget that would have raised taxes 1.84% went down by 49 votes. Superintendent Mary Morris said the school board will send the same budget to voters this month.
"It was a conservative budget to begin with," she said.
Should the budget be defeated again, the district would have to approve a contingency budget that would cut $630,000. The tax levy on contingency budgets cannot be larger than the previous year's levy. Contingency budgets also prevent districts from buying equipment and the public use of school buildings except when there is no cost to the district.
Eden board members approved a contingency budget last week that cut about $470,000, then amended that to a contingency spending plan because there was no firm guidance about when a revote would occur and if a contingent budget had to be adopted before a revote.
The governor scheduled the revote July 28 through an executive order issued Friday, the day most districts and government offices were celebrating the July 4 holiday.
"We were operating with very little information," said Jeffrey Sortisio, Eden's new superintendent, who started his job July 1.
Eden school board members cut about $27,000 in summer maintenance projects from the defeated budget for the revote, Sortisio said. That will reduce the tax levy increase to 1.82%, he said.
On July 28, voting will take place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Eden and from noon to 9 p.m. in Cheektowaga.
