Budget Voters Offer Reactions After Hitting the Polls

Taxpayers in the Riverhead Central School District, from Aquebogue to Riverside to Calverton, skipped through puddles and braved the wind to come out to approve a proposed $109.5 million spending budget for the 2011-2012 school year. 

The budget .

As can be expected, reactions were mixed. 

"I'm voting to cancel out my dad's vote," said Aquebogue resident Patricia Reilly, who has a fourth and fifth grader in the school system. "I always vote for, and he always votes against. And I will continue to vote in favor. We need to say 'yes' for improvements to the schools. We can't have our kids learning in trailers."

Fred Rahming, a grandfather of six, said he always votes in favor of the budget, too.

"I don't want my grand kids saying 'Pop Pop, we can't do this, or we can't do that,'" he said. 

Joseph Cannon, a guidance counselor at McGann-Mercy High School and retired police officer, said he didn't see the point in saying no. Should the public vote reject the proposed budget twice, a contingency budget would raise the tax levy by 4.85 percent over this year's spending.

"It's just as much, so we might as well try to improve the district," he said. "My daughter lives in Centereach. The difference between their proposed and contingency budgets is a 22 or six percent increase."

But some said that administrators and school board members should have done more to curb the costs. 

"The schools have enough in reserves," said Lynne Smith, who said she voted against the budget. "They should have used more. Everybody is suffering."

One woman, who chose not to give her name, stated simply: "My taxes are just too high."

The polls closed at 9:07 p.m. after getting a late start during the morning.