The Newburgh Enlarged City School District’s revised spending plan of $358.98 million passed with a final count of 1,113 votes yes and 977 votes no. Challenger Thomasina A. Bello won the runoff election with 1,153 votes to incumbent Philip Howard’s 826.

The revised NECSD budget and candidate runoff election votes both took place on Tuesday, June 18. Polls were open from noon to 9 p.m. The regular canvass of votes took place on Thursday, June 20 with the district clerk and other clerks verifying signatures and proceeding with the final count of votes.

The school district was able to acquire for the runoff election and second budget vote voting machines provided by the Orange County Board of Elections through a quick turnaround of approving the revised budget and subsequently holding a public hearing a week prior to the election.

“I am thankful to the voters who expressed their civic duty during today’s budget vote and runoff election,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jackielyn Manning Campbell in a statement. “I look forward to working collaboratively with our entire board and community to continue the critical work of educating our scholars.”

The revised spending plan on this year’s ballot was the district’s second attempt to get a budget approved by voters. District administration and the board of education were looking to avoid a contingency budget going into the 2024-2025 school year. The approved budget proposed a 2.48% tax levy increase; the overall district tax levy had not seen an increase since the 2016-2017 school year. The district’s original spending plan of $360.46 million, which included a 3.8% tax levy increase ($4.23 million), was rejected by district voters on May 21 by a count of 1,097 votes against and 1,002 in favor.

With Bello receiving the highest number of votes in the runoff election, she will now be receiving a three-year term on the board, while Howard will be receiving a two-year term. The reason for the runoff was that Bello and Howard each received 856 votes in the May election.

Bello is one of five new candidates elected to the board, while Howard was the only incumbent to return to serve for another term. Christine M. Bello, Mackenzie Bousche, Victoria Bousche and Fred Stewart will also serve on the board heading into the new school year. The board of education elections had a total of six seats available, with 13 candidates vying for a seat.

The public has the opportunity to review the district budget documents by visiting the district website at newburghschools.org. At the top of the website, residents and visitors can select the tab Board of Ed and a dropdown menu will allow the selection of budget information, a list of members on the board, upcoming meeting schedules and agendas to better follow along with the work of the school district and board.

The next meetings for the board of education have been scheduled for Tuesday, July 2 and Tuesday, July 16, both starting at 6 p.m. All board meetings are held in the upstairs auditorium at 124 Grand Street (also the home of the Newburgh Free Library).