Taylor edges out Martin for seat on Massapequa School Board; voters approve school budget
by Andrew Coen

In a surprise upset following a hotly contested school board race between longtime incumbent Arlene Martin and her opponent Tim Taylor, Martin was defeated by a slim margin. In addition, Massapequa voters approved their proposed school budget with a plurality of 57 percent in the May 15 "Super Tuesday" budget vote and election.

The $156.6 million budget proposal, a 6.78 percent increase, passed by 538 votes, 2,892 to 2,354. Martin was denied a fourth term on the board after an aggressive challenge from Taylor who edged out the incumbent by 73 votes, 2,554 to 2,481. Voters also approved a proposition that gives the Massapequa school board the stamp of approval to spend $5.7 million in EXCEL funds given by the state which can be used for building needs throughout the district and approved the library budget by 954 votes, 3,040 to 2,086.

The approved budget carries a tax levy (the percent of the budget to be raised in real estate taxes) of 5.98 percent, which originally was going to be a 6.78 percent hike before state lawmakers delivered Massapequa additional state aid just prior to adopting their budget. The average Massapequa homeowner will see tax bills of around $5,128, which is below the Nassau County average according to district officials.

"The district would like to thank the community for their continued support," said Massapequa assistant superintendent for business Al Adcock the morning after the budget was approved. "It's certainly a positive in any community to pass a school budget."

Had Massapequans rejected the budget proposal the school board would have been forced to slash $3.1 million including an estimated 13 staff members and $1.5 million earmarked toward programs. The approved budget includes increases to instructional costs ($7.6 million), special education ($1.9 million), transportation ($966,000) and debt service ($429,449).

Still reeling from his win, Taylor called the results "awesome" and "great."

"It is amazing that I was able to defeat a sitting president of the board, especially when you consider all of the backing she had from the teachers," he said. "I guess that people were just fed up with runaway salaries and said, 'hey, let's give this guy a shot'."

Taylor said he will reach out to the other board members and work with them to find waste and cut costs. "I am certainly not going after anyone, but we have to do something to slow this thing down so we can all afford to live here," he said. "We can't take $10 million increases every year any more. We have to find a way to make it more about the kids."

Taylor, a 1979 Massapequa High School graduate and owner of Tim's Tree Service, ran on the platform that taxes have gone up way too much in recent years and that the central administrative staff, as well as guidance counselors and librarians, are too highly paid. Martin, a former Massapequa elementary school teacher and current Molloy College professor, decided to run for another term in order to utilize her educational background to bring positive perspective to help advance the district she said. She was unavailable prior to press time.

With residents approving the EXCEL Fund proposition district officials plan to use the state funds to enhance handicapped access in all buildings, addressing safety and security in each facility, conducting abatement work in crawl spaces and obtaining new

computers to replace aging ones. "[Passing the EXCEL proposition] allows Massapequa to improve its district facilities and technology at virtually no cost to the taxpayers," said Adcock.

In other districts, the Farmingdale School District voters passed their $133.3 million budget by a vote of 2,285 to 1,414. It will result in a 4 percent increase in spending over this year and a 3.5 percent tax-rate increase.

The voters also approved the district accepting $3,9 million in New York State EXCEL aid which will be used for infrastructure repairs and improvements. The vote was 2,296 to 960.

Incumbent board members Tina Diamond and Russ Catanzaro were reelected, 2,018 to 2,291 votes respectively. Their opponent Anthony Sagginario a New York City Police Officer, received 1,416 votes.

Sagginario said that while he's disappointed he did not win, he would run again. "I believe I could have a positive impact on the board and make a difference," he said.

Diamond and Catanzaro were not available for comment.

Finally, the district's youth budget was approved 2,309 to 1,067.

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