Comsewogue Super: Voter Turnout 'Good,' Community Support 'Terrific'

Following the passage of the 2013-14 Comsewogue school budget this week with close to 70 percent voter approval, superintendent Joseph Rella thanked the community for its support and said the turnout showed great support of the school district.

"It’s always a couple of nerve wracking hours at the end of the day there, but I think that the turnout was good and the strong community support was terrific," he said in an interview with Patch.

The $81.1 million budget preserves all programs and staffing levels while providing for some enhancements, such as a new student information management system, a cheerleading program in the middle school, and more. Proposition 2 also passed, giving the district the green light to transfer more than $250,000 of one budget line into its capital fund for safety and security improvements.

"We were able to maintain all our programs and move ahead without any changes, which is great," Rella said. "The community, as they have so many times in the past, really showed their strong support for their schools."

He said he had a small measure of confidence going into the budget vote on Tuesday, believing the district did a good job of keeping its increases to a minimum. He pointed out that had it not been for a massive increase to the state pension system, Comsewogue would have been able to come in below 2 percent in terms of a tax levy increase.

"You don’t want to be cocky or over confident. It’s a tough time for people," he said.  "This is a very difficult time. I take nothing for granted during this time. It doesn’t sound like a lot of money sometimes, but it is. If you’re on a very tight budget, than an extra $250 a year is a lot of money."

He added: "That’s why you hope for the best. We have a community that has been sacrificing for a number of years, and our employees doing the same in terms of the contracts being negotiated."

Rella also responded to community complaints that voting was difficult Tuesday night because of a Terryville Elementary School concert scheduled at the high school. He said it won't happen again.

"We’ve had it on the same night about six or seven years," he said. "The difference this year was that we combined the 3rd through 5th graders from Terryville and Clinton. Essentially you have double the size choruses, orchestras and bands. We will never do that again."