School budgets pass in Pat-Med and South Country

Voters in the Patchogue-Medford and South Country school districts on Tuesday approved budgets for the coming school year, including South Country’s spending plan that eliminates 51 positions.

In the South Country District, voters voted out incumbent Joseph L. Barry and elected newcomers Erika M. Calderon, Robert Felicetta and Christopher Ross. Calderon, an attorney, Felicetta, an assistant principal at William Floyd High School, and Ross, an attorney, were all endorsed by the Bellport Teachers Association.

Calderon received 1,203 votes. Felicetta received 1,246 votes. Ross received 1,226 votes.

In the Patchogue-Medford District, incumbent Francis Salazar and newcomer Lauren Kuban ran unopposed for two seats on the board.

Kuban is a fifth-grade teacher in another district. Salazar is an assistant principal at a middle school in the Copiague School District.

Kuban received 1,306 votes. Salazar received 1,197 votes.

By a vote of 1,205 to 533, South Country voters approved the $147.2 million budget that increases the tax levy by 3.48 percent and eliminates 51 positions, including teachers and library media specialists. Superintendent Antonio Santana has said the cuts are necessary to close a $3.2 million budget gap as the district faces higher costs for bus transportation, employee health care and educating special education students.

South Country voters also approved by a vote of 1,271 to 449 a proposition to spend $2.315 million from capital reserves on infrastructure improvements at Bellport High School, including replacing windows in the gymnasium, replacing two boilers, and replacing the surface of the running track.

In Pat-Med, voters approved 1,170 to 569 a $245.3 million budget that increases the tax levy by 2.49 percent. The budget eliminates nine positions through retirement.