Newburgh voters will go back to the polls on June 18 for a second vote on the 2024-25 school budget, which was defeated in the May 21 vote.

The Newburgh Board of Education on May 30 adopted a revised 2024-2025 district budget of $358.98 million – slightly less than the $360.46 million spending plan that was defeated last month.

The revised budget carries a proposed tax levy increase of 2.48% ($2.75 million) over the 2023-24 budget. It passed with six in favor; but newly-sworn-in board members Christine M. Bello and Fred Stewart abstained.

District residents will vote on the revised budget on Tuesday, June 18 from noon to 9 p.m.

The district tax levy has not seen an increase since the 2016-17 school year.

The top vote getter from the 13 candidates on the ballot in the BOE elections was challenger Christine M. Bello with 1,161 votes. The second-highest vote-getter was Mackenzie Bousche with 871 votes. Incumbent Philip Howard and Thomasina A. Bello tied with 856 votes each; those two candidates will meet again on June 18 in a runoff election.

Assistant Superintendent of Finance Kimberly Rohring presented the board with a revised budget at a special meeting on May 30. During her presentation she noted the district’s biggest expense-drivers, including compensation, employee benefits, student transportation, out-of-district tuition and debt service.

The revised proposed tax levy was provided with preliminary breakdowns of tax bills and estimated difference figures for homes assessed in the district. Final assessed value figures for each municipality and final equalization rates from the Office of Real Property Services in Albany are still waiting to be finalized and shared with the district.

The proposed amount in reductions is now $1.48 million. The reductions are as follows: Instructional Technology Equipment reduced by $700,000; Custodial/Maintenance Equipment reduced by $100,000; Teacher Additional Time reduced by $200,000; Athletics equipment reduced by $79,000; the “Grow Your Programs” reduced by $82,425 (being eliminated completely); travel/conference reduced by $40,000; stipends reduced by $126,625 and the elimination of a Director of World Languages would be a reduction of $150,000.

“If we go to a contingent budget, based on the proposed revised budget, we would have to cut an additional $2.7 million for a total of $4.2 million of the original, May 21st proposed budget,” Rohring said. Ten additional positions would be eliminated, equipment would not be able to be purchased for the entire year and reductions in overtime, contract services, travel conference, curriculum supplies and stipends would occur, according to Rohring.

At a special meeting on Tuesday, May 28, the BOE conducted the canvass of votes. Twenty-eight affidavit ballots were handed in on election day, according to the district clerk. Those 28 ballots were then sent to the Orange County Board of Elections for registered-voter verification. Of the 28 affidavit ballots, 21 voters were registered, six voters were not registered and one envelope was disqualified because it was left completely blank on the outside.

The official results, which are posted on the district website, are:

Christine M. Bello, 1,161 votes; Mackenzie Bousche, 871; Philip Howard and Thomasina A. Bellow, 856 votes each; Victoria Bousche, 852 votes; Fred Stewart, 839 votes; incumbent Mark Levinstein, 831 votes; Bob Capano, 762 votes; Ray Harvey, 752 votes; Shadé Burks, 623 votes; Tanika McCullough, 598 votes; Nabil Khan, 455 votes and Dennis Grant, 428 votes.

At the beginning of the regular May 30 meeting, Christine M. Bello, Victoria Bousche and Stewart were sworn in by the district clerk and took their seats on the board.

Proposition 2, the Newburgh Free Library 2024-2025 budget of $6.18 million, passed, with 1,344 votes yes and 742 votes no.

A public hearing on the budget will be held on Tuesday, June 11, a week before the election.

At the May 30 special meeting, Superintendent of Schools Jackielyn Manning Campbell addressed the previous decision to send district administrators to a conference in Las Vegas, which raised concerns from the public about district use of funds. She said that at the next board meeting, (June 11) the board will consider a motion to rescind the planned trip to Las Vegas.