Westbury residents voted 618 to 571 in favor of the district's 2002-2003 spending plan of $61,440,542 on Tuesday, May 21.

The budget is a 9.2 percent or $5,176,694 increase over the current year's budget of $56,263,848. With the average home in Westbury assessed at $6,000, the tax rate increase will most likely be 11.2 percent or $42.45 per $100 of assessed valuation.

The budget is broken into three components: Administrative, Program and Capital of which $6,137,423, $48,665,568, and $6,637,551, respectively, have been allocated for 2002-2003. Of the budget's total cost, 18 percent or $11.3 million will be offset with state aid.

Dr. Constance Clark, superintendent of Westbury Schools, said she is pleased the community is continuing to support the school district. "The approved 2002-2003 school budget enables us to move forward with our academic agenda, which includes many important instructional initiatives for our students," she said. "The approved budget makes it possible for us to continue to provide more academic enhancements for the students, particularly in the areas of English Language Arts and mathematics. We are just so pleased that the community has shown its commitment to our schools and our students. Successful schools are reflective of supportive communities."

In a previous article, Clarke said that despite the proposed increase, the school district has been very sensitive to the taxpayer. "The district has gone out to secure special grants for programs that have lessened the burden of the budget," she said. "We have, over the last three years, been able to bring in close to $5 million in grants to help offset the operating budget. But that is still not sufficient to meet all the needs such as small class sizes and the academic enhancement and enrichment, as well as summer school and before and after school programs. We feel we have been extremely sensitive to the community and tried to keep the budget as low as possible."

In addition to the budget vote, election of school board trustees also took place last Tuesday. Karen Hollie, who was running unopposed for the seat on the Westbury Board of Education currently held by trustee April Lake who is not seeking another term, received 734 votes. Incumbent Robert Troiano, who was also running unopposed for another term on the board, received 861 votes. Both trustees were elected to three-year terms that will commence July 1 of this year and expire on June 30, 2005.