Sullivan West election moved to October

New super informs board that date conflicts with NY primary

By FRITZ MAYER

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — The election for two new Sullivan West board members has been moved from September 18 to October 2. At a meeting of the Sullivan West Central School District on August 2, the new superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Hilton, told the board that the original date conflicted with another election-the New York State primary—which is due to be held on the September 18.

Sullivan West voters cast ballots in two locations on borrowed machines.

At the Narrowsburg location, which is at the Narrowsburg branch of the Western Sullivan Library, voting machines are borrowed from the Town of Tusten. At the Callicoon location, which is the Delaware Valley Youth Center, voting machines are borrowed from the Town of Delaware. The school district owns the machines, which are used at the Jeffersonville location, which is the gym at the Jeffersonville school.

Because the machines to be borrowed will be in use for the primary, they can’t be used for the school board vote on that date. Moreover, election officials in the Narrowsburg and Callicoon locations would not be available to perform their usual tasks.

Hilton suggested that if board members were so inclined, the election could still be held on September 18, with voters using a paper ballot and all voters going to the same location-Jeffersonville.

No board members, however, thought that would be a workable solution. Noel van Swol said that option “would create an insurrection” among voters. Other board members agreed.

Under state law, voting machines must be impounded until the end of the month after an election is held. Therefore the next available date to hold the election and have use of the machines was in October.

In other news, although it is early in the budget process, it appears there may be excess funds at the end of the coming school year. Lawmakers in Albany recently revised the law regarding how much money a school district can keep in a fund balance. The amount was raised from two percent to three percent for the 2007-08 school year, and to four percent for 2008-09.

Hilton suggested that excess funds be used to increase the fund balance to its highest allowable point. However, board member Richard Tegnander said that if there are excess funds, the board should consider refunding some portion of the excess to taxpayers in the form of a rebate.

van Swol agreed that if the amount is extremely large, some of it should go back to the taxpayers.