Pine Bush Central School District voters approved the $121,587,157 budget, with 62.5 percent of voters supporting the spending plan.

Incumbents Cara Robertson and Kristi Kheiralla will retain their seats on the board. They were challenged by Tasha Butler.

This budget increases spending by 2.37 percent and increases the tax levy by 2.58 percent, a full one percent less than the amount allowed. The district is not using any of its fund balance in the budget.

“We are so grateful to our residents for approving this budget,” said Superintendent Tim Mains. “The board had to make some extraordinarily difficult decisions to keep the tax levy under what was allowed, yet they still maintained the programs and class size for our students. This has been a tough year for our students, teachers, parents, administrators – everyone associated with the district, actually. With so much uncertainty, we may face even more difficult decisions going forward. But for now, I want to express our gratitude to our very supportive public. We thank you for your continued support of our students.”

This year’s budget vote and board of education election was done strictly via absentee ballot. The original deadline for the district to receive ballots was June 9. However, Gov. Andrew Cuomo extended the deadline to receive ballots by mail to June 16 at 5 p.m. The district started the counting process on Wednesday morning, June 17 and completed it at approximately 12:30 p.m.

 

Budget Vote/Board of Education Election Unofficial Results

Budget

Yes – 2876

No – 1727

 

Board of Education

Tasha Butler – 2,180

*Kristi Kheiralla – 2,786

*Cara Robertson – 2,956

* incumbents