Voters Take to the Polls, Offer Their Thoughts

Voters came out at a steady pace to Harrison's four voting locations Tuesday, each with a different opinion of exactly what is the best direction for the school district.

Set at $103.1 million with a 3.18 percent tax rate increase, the proposed Harrison budget for 2011-12 has drawn praise and criticism from residents throughout most of the spring. That didn't change Tuesday as some voters were eager to share their feelings on the proposed spending plan.

"(The budget) keeps going up every year, but our test scores are low," said Lorraine Freed after casting her vote at Harrison Avenue School.

John Miele of West Harrison said he voted against the budget because property taxes are getting out of control. He said he is considering moving away from Harrison after spending his life here because it's too difficult to keep up with rising costs.

"It's the older people that are on fixed incomes that are basically... it's very hard," he said. "It really is hard for people that built this town to stay here."

Others maintained that the tax rate increase is caused by state mandates and other problems out of the Board of Education's control. Michael Castellano of West Harrison said he thinks it's more important now than ever for the community to stand behind the district after casting his vote at Preston Elementary School.

"I'm very impressed with the strides that Harrison has made in the educational system over the last 10 years and I think it's very, very, important to maintain that trend because I think it allows more students the opportunity to achieve higher standards," he said, adding that he thinks the 3.18 percent tax rate increase is reasonable.

The Board of Education race has also caught the attention of several voters. Support was divided between the incumbents and challengers in the three races. Voters are tasked with choosing between Paul Curtis and Joseph Magnus, Robert Piliero and Philip Silano and Matthew Joseph and David Singer.

Chris Troise, who has three kids in the district, said he supports the incumbents because of the district's recent acceptance into the International Baccalaureate program.

"That was really the driving force for me," said Troise. "I think it's very forward thinking to bring that to a school district, it's very impressive. It also took a lot of work to do, my kids are German so it's definitely a big thing for them to be able to enter into that."

Mike Callari, of Purchase, said he voted against the incumbents because it's time for some new ideas.

"Just the way things are going in the world, the country, everything. Too many people have been in office too long, they get complacent and my idea is get some new blood in," he said, adding that he thinks the district's $103.1 million budget is too much. "If you go to the high school there's assistants to assistants to assistants—it's crazy, it's out of control with these guys."

But Callari said his support of the challengers isn't necessarily guarantied for the next election.

"I'm all for new people, get rid of the old," he said. "If these guys don't work then in two, three, years we'll get somebody else—that's my philosophy."