The-Leader_1983-04-14

              OllicitI
Ntwspipei'
Village ol
Freeport •
Freeport
• School District
' Baldoin
• School District
FaEEPORT MEMORIAL UBiflARY
FREEPORT. NEW YORK. APRIL 14.1983
47tl>yEAR.-No.Sl
FREEPORT- UEUO:?IAL (tlBRARI
W UEHP.ICK RD ' ' • '
FHEEfOax H y 11520 6
PRICE 2 5 * PER COPY
Four Vie For freeport School Board
m^ I j l . • ' A.' • I m^ . • Endo, Intburglo & Monroe
Baldwin School DOordJo^f>aro'a-rrEi»^^Bi^^^
Sets '83-'84 Budget
Residents Will Vote On
$29,671,347 BudgefMayn
FREEFOKT • In an almost last minnte rush-to declare their candi-darnes
for Freeport idmA Board, three school district readents have
joined incninbent Jim Parola in sobn^tting petitions to the district
cleric's ofiice.
Bythedoseofthebosinessday, Monday, April U (the deadline for
submitting petitions for the elec-
^Mulholland Elected
3rd Assistant
Freeport Fire Chief;
Rotation Loses
FREEPORT • George . Mul-.
honand, ex-captain of Vigilant
Hose Company No. 2, was elected
third Assistant d i e f of the Free-port
Fire Department at the
department's annual elections,
held on Thursday, April 7.
by Joan Delanty
BALDWIN - b a consensus vote on Tueisday evening. April S, the
Baldirin Board of Edocatioo approved the school district's eapendhnre
budget for 1983-84 of »9,671447 (TOE LEADER, issue of April 7,
19S3). Based on enireat state aid projections^d present assessed
valuation fortnulas. it i s expected that this wiQ^anf ijite into a tax rate
' increase of n.teS'pet SlOO as-
Georg* J. Mulholland
Freeport's voluiiteer fire­fighters
also cast "thumbs down"*
on a proposed rotation system for
the future sdectkn of chiefs.
-^Tbe xotiBg c£maxed a week of
selections in the department, as
company and department officials
and'officers were dx»en in two
rounds of balloting. AD. the'
elected ' firefighters win . be
ofTiciaUy swoni into oCBce by the
Freeport Village- • Board of
Trustees at the department's
anhoal installatian, to be held
Saturday. April 30.
A total of 270 members of the
department voted and First
Deputy Chief Steve Wenk of
Tradt Coopany. running un­opposed,
teceived I8S votes to be
named the department's- new
Chief. .
Also tunning unopposed was
the department's Second Deputy
Chief tes Fieldsa,;of Emergency
Company, who was elected First
Assutant Chief with 191 votes;
(Cont. on Pag* 18)
sessed valuation. FSor a home'
assessed at SS.OOO, this would
mean an increase in school taxes
of approximately S84 for the year.-
This increase is for a prx>perty in '
the residential class, one of four
dasuficatioiu established- by
a change in the property tax law,
which became effective last -
suminer.
Residential takes in one, two
and three fanuly homes. -The
other three classes are apart­ments,
incfaiding cooperatives'
and condominiuras; utilities; and
commercial.
The residential classification
incbdes better than 77% of the
Baldwin School District's tax­payers.
The estimated tax rate
for this dass is S25.274; for apart­ments,
S26.492; for utiluies,
. $26,936; and for commercial,
$26,952.
On Wednesday evetnsg April
6; the School Board officially
approved the budget expenditure
. at its tegulariy scheduled monthly
meeting .. bdd ^ at'. Brookside
Sdnol, Budget cuts, wtiich tow-
- ered the b n i l^ from a previously
anix«nced preliminary figure of a
SI .75 increase, induded a diange
from a proposed a la carte lunch
program at Meadow School to
a brown bag program and
changes in projections regarding
teadier salaries for next year.
According to the teachers' con­tract,
portions of the salary in­creases
arc linked .to a cost of
Irring adjustment. In addition,
the state aid package gave an
additkmal SlO.OOOto Baldwin.be-yond
that'which was. originally
projected after the' Governor's
pTD{>asal.- \
Although the April 6 vole
seemed perfunctory. It was in
fact the cnlminatioa of months of
open pubBc btidget meetings,
meetings wit'i the Baldwin
Educational Assembly's finance
committee as weh as administra­tive,
departtnental arid bu'dding
meetings to establish needs and
priorities. However, despite the
procejts which Assistant Superin­tendent
Richard Dopsovic des­cribed
as open and ongoing, there
was stin discussion among Board
members on April 5 regarding the
.bndgetinoccss.
Over the years, various School
Boards have suggested or pre­ferred
d'^erent methods of read­ing
budget 'decisions. During
certain years, Baldwin's public
budget pocess was more time-cxnisuming.
Sometimes each de­partment
gave presentations at
open board meetings and in­duded
every request without any
prioritizing. While this provided
an enotmotts amount of inform-
.atioQ and disoissican, it also, bad
some negative results. No matter^
how many times people were'
told that those budget presenu-tions
woe prenminaiy, commun­ity
gossip began to disseminate
these preSndnary figures as
though they were definhe and
discussed unprioritized 'needs •
callmg them "wish Bsts.". .
The Board d Educa&o then
requested that department re­quests
be less pteBminaiy and
did not require every department
to make lengthy preserttatioos.
Certun budget cutting and
prioritixing, thetefore. took place
administrativdy although, ac-conBng
to Do^ierne, the Board.
~ was contiffluDy kept updated with'
computer printouts. ' -
At the April 5 meeting, dis-cnssim
which had emerged dur­ing
the last three years emerged
again. Tbiae was board dis­cussion
on Vrho should begin
the process of setting priorities
and whether the final budget
figure should proceed bom pro­gram
decisioia or whether the
(Cont. on Page 6)
tion to be held on.May 11),
nominating petitions had been
submitted by Parcla, who is seek?
ing his third term on the Freeport.
Board of Education; Marianne
Erulo, an active PTAer; Sal
Imbnrg^, a past candidate for
vmage Mayer; and Betty Mon­roe,
wife of a former School Board
member.
Vodng on the two open seats on
the Board win, for tbe.first time
this year, be on an at-large basis
. with the tiro cat>£dates receiving
tlw highest immber' of votes
witmiog election. Previously can­didates
ran for specific seats.
but last year district, residents
voted to change that procedure.
The two open Sdiool Board .
ptsitions that will be on the ballot
this May are Parola's and that of
William Comiixis, who is not
seeking reelectim.
. AKesidentFor
'Thirty Yean
Jim Parola was first elected to
the Freeport Sdx»l Board in
1977, served as its president
once (1979-80) and its vice-presi­dent
twice. Residents of the vil­lage
for the past 30 years, Parola
and his wife', Madelaihe, have.
two grown sons, both of '^hom
attended Freeport public schools
from kindergarten through 12th
grade before going off to college.
Employed by Western Union
for the past 41 years. Parola has
worked on the management and
engineering levels for more than
half that time. He attended.Syra-cuse
University and Pratt In-.
stitute and served for three-and-one-
balf yean in the U.S. Army
Signal Corps.' .
Araong bis comtnututy acdvi-^
ties, Parda can list Freeport
Rotary, Cub Scoutmaster, Little
Leagiue, Our Holy Redeemer
Holy Naine Sodety,- the Choral
Parents Cub and the Freepon
Band, and Orchestra Parents
Qub. Active also in the Harmony
Oub, he has been a volunteer
driver for the blind for mtjre than
a decade.
Active PTAer
Marianne Endo has lived in-
Freeport for about 15 years and
during that time has raised a
famDy — she and her husband,
Les, have three sons, ages 12,
9 and 5 — worked in her hus.
band's busiiKss as secretary, and
(Cont. on Pago 4) -- —
Marianne Endo. Betty Monroe
Sallniburgio Jiffl Parola