At Voorheesville
Blow wins board seat, budget passes by 80 votes



VOORHEESVILLE – Two candidates vying for one school board seat shook hands after Tuesday night’s announcement that Timothy Blow had been voted in.
"I just wished him the best of luck" I’m sure he’ll do a great job on the board," said Thomas Jones, who, along with Sean Signer, was running against Blow for the school board seat being vacated by Richard Brackett.

Blow garnered 464 votes, to Jones’s 351 votes, and Signer’s 178.
"I wish him luck" Maybe with his financial background, he can straighten out that business office," Brackett told The Enterprise regarding his successor. Brackett said earlier that he was not seeking re-election to the seven-member board because, "It’s time for someone else to take over" I did my five years."

The night was cordial all the way around with both the school and library budgets passing with comfortable margins.
The district’s $21 million budget, representing a 4.7 percent increase over this year’s, passed – 592 to 512 – with 54 percent supporting the budget, according to the unofficial results read off the back of the voting machines. Brackett said that he was "kind of surprised" that the budget passed. The 80-vote margin, he said, is more than in some recent years.

Sixty-eight percent of the budget, or about $14 million dollars, will be raised through property taxes, creating an increase in the tax levy of 5.5 percent.
"The vote spoke," Brackett said, adding, "There’s still a lot of people that are unhappy with the way things are done."
Superintendent Linda Langevin is thrilled that the district’s budget passed, she said on Wednesday. "I’m very grateful for people supporting the school and the programs and services we provide. It’s very refreshing."
The Voorheesville School District, she said, will do its best to continue to provide great programs. "I guess I want to say thank you," Langevin concluded on her feelings about the budget passage.
"We’re pleased that the voters chose to approve the budget we recommended, but are also mindful of the burden that it places on the taxpayer," board President David Gibson told The Enterprise yesterday. Gibson referred to the board as "stewards for the taxpayers’ money’ and stressed the importance of using it in "ways that have high value in the educational process.
"To the extent that we can find ways to decrease costs, than we will," he added.
"Everybody tried to do their part to get the numbers down as best they could," Assistant Superintendent for Business Sarita Winchell told The Enterprise after the school board approved the budget proposal, moving it to public vote. "We have some real needs in this district," she said.

A new social worker position, a first for the district; an additional elementary-school teacher; and the $18,000 tuition for a Voorheesville student to attend Tech Valley High School, which will open in the fall all added extra costs to the $21 million total budget, and Langevin said she appreciates the public support for the new things in the budget.
"We’re looking forward to a great year in 2007-08," Langevin said.
The school’s $207,470 bus proposition also passed – 676 to 414 – with 62 percent voting yes. Langevin said that she is "very happy" that it passed.

"Gratified"
"I feel gratified," Blow told The Enterprise about his win. "I’m relieved it’s over" Now is the challenge of trying to be a worthwhile addition to the board that we have already," he said following Tuesday’s vote.
"I’ve always been on the outside, interested," Blow told The Enterprise earlier, adding that he is unhappy with some of the decisions that have been made in recent years.
Blow, the chief financial officer for Ballston Spa National Bank, has been a resident of the district for 17 years; he has three children, one in each school – third-grade, seventh-grade, and tenth-grade. It gives him a "good spectrum of what’s going on," he said.
Langevin said that she is "very happy that Mr. Blow was selected." He has a strong financial background, has worked with kids through his involvement in Catholic Youth Organization sports, has children in the district, and is involved in the community, she said.
"I’m really happy because he’s well-rounded and knowledgeable with finances" He’ll be an extremely valuable board member," said Langevin.
"The district was in a great position having three good candidates," said Gibson yesterday.
During the campaign, Blow said that, if elected, he would be eager to "add my knowledge into the decision-making" for the district.
Blow said that he contributes to the community in many ways, and being elected to the school board is "one more step" to help out.
"My interests are aligned with individuals who want good education for their children and also those who don’t want taxes to spiral out of control," he said earlier.

Public library

Also on Tuesday’s ballot was the $928,280 Voorheesville Public Library budget, which passed – 653 to 442 – with support from 60 percent of the voters.

It includes, for the first of five years, $30,000 in debt service to pay off a $150,000 land debt.

The total budget increases spending 5.5 percent over this year, including the debt service. The increase in library operations costs is 1.8 percent. New Scotland residents will pay an estimated $1.06 per $1,000 of assessed value.
"I’m delighted, and excited, and pleased about the budget," said library Director Gail Sacco on Wednesday afternoon after returning from a Croatian conference call that had her brimming with excitement, adding to her budget enthusiasm.

The conference call, she explained, was part of an international librarianship that she and another Voorheesville librarian were a part of. They discussed programming, literature, and information about the United States and its library system, Sacco said.
Regarding the budget vote, she said, "I’m happy that people understand how hard we’re working to bring good services to the community."

Library trustee Catherine Anderson’s term expires on June 30, Sacco said, and she did not seek re-election. No candidates were on the ballot, and there were no write-in candidates on Tuesday.
Sacco said that she didn’t know what to expect because this was the "first time we didn’t have a candidate."

The library is seeking letters from anyone who might be interested in being appointed to the five-member board for a one-year term, from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008, she said.

Next year, there will be two open seats on the library board, she said. The two candidates with the most votes will be appointed, she explained. The candidate with the most votes will be appointed for a normal five-year term, and the other top candidate, she said, would be appointed to a four-year term to finish the term already started this upcoming July.
"We’re going to try to honor the trust that the community has given us," Sacco concluded.