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Village of Liverpool budget ready for approval ... Page 3
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eaglestarreview.com Volume 119, No. 16 April 20 to 26, 2011
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Legislature approves controversial district lines
Bunny Breakfast
Redistricting, paired with shrinking legislature, raises questions By Ami Olson
editor@theeaglecny.com
The village of North Syracuse gets a visit from a special guest
Syracuse Home honors local volunteers ...See page 3
For more photos, see page 11
Schools
PHOTOS BY CAITLIN DONNELLY
The village of North Syracuse held their 6th Annual Bunny Breakfast on April 17 at the VFW Post 7290 in the village. The breakfast raised approximately $1,000, which wll be used to fund the North Syracuse Community Festival, said Charlotte LaPorte, festival chair. “This is the biggest turnout we’ve ever had; this is what makes a village,” said Mayor Diane Browning. Melissa and Mike Salvatore, of Liverpool, brought their children Brooke Salvatore, 2 months, and Brianna Ketchum, 2, to visit the Easter Bunny and enjoy breakfast.
“Hands Across the Ocean” at C-NS Dr. Mary Ann Niemczura’s German class forges new friendships via video conferencing. ...See page 6
CALENDAR ...................2 CLASSIFIEDS .............. 16 EDITORIAL ....................4 OBITUARIES ............... 14 SCHOOL NEWS..............6 SPORTS ........................7
North Syracuse BOE approves budget By Caitlin Donnelly
editor@eaglenewsonline.com The North Syracuse Central School District Board of Education adopted a $136,601,471 budget for the 2011-2012 school year during a special meeting April 18 in the North Syracuse Jr. High Auditorium. The budget, which was adopted in a unanimous vote by the board, means a 5.2 percent tax increase for district taxpayers—down from the originally proposed 5.6 percent, explained Assistant Superintendent for Management Wayne Bleau. This means a $107 increase in school taxes on a $100,000 home in
the towns of Cicero, Salina and Clay. The budget also includes the elimination of 67 staffing positions—37.5 instructional, 9.05 special education and 20.6 support staff—which saves the district $4,483,706. Broken down further, this means 16.5 teachers from the K-6 elementary level, 12.9 from the 7-12 secontary level and 8.1 special area—art, music, physical education, etc.—teachers. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for May 3. District residents vote on the budget May 17. Athletics and co-curricular activities also took hits during budget process. The athletic department lost $97,530 in school
funding, which means the elimination of certain suplies and equipment, less pool and ice rental times and reductions in officials and trips for modified teams. Co-curricular funding was reduced by $37,655 and includes cuts to intramurals, supplies and equipment, and after school clubs in the high school, junior high, Gillette and Roxboro Road middle schools. Other concessions imposed upon the district by the budget include increased class sizes, changing of music from twice each week to once a week for Please see BOE budget, page 6
019 12'0
In less than a month, Onondaga County legislators waded through a decade of census data to create 17 new legislative districts in a reapportionment and redistricting process that some argue did not employ enough research or input from the public. The legislature on Friday April 15 approved the local law to enact reapportioned legislative districts, based on the recommendation made by the Reapportionment Committee on Tuesday April 5. Districts are reapportioned every decade following a US census, and this year legislators were also tasked with shrinking the number of districts from 19 to 17, after voters approved the reduction last fall. The new districts were approved in a 12 to 7 vote along party lines, with Republicans supporting the commission’s proposal. Democrats argued last Friday that the Republicans’ redraw, coined “Plan A,” put voters’ needs second to protecting incumbent Republican legislators. County Democrats had presented their own “plan B” maps, which were defeated Friday. Republicans say the new districts promote “metropolitization” by adding urban neighborhoods to some previously suburban districts. “We’re tying to get away from ‘urban against suburban,” Jim Rhinehart, Legislative chairman, said. “I think it’s very important that legislators represent both suburban and urban neighborhoods.” Each new district accounts for an average of 27,000 voters, said Rhinehart. The average population of the current 19 districts is roughly 23,000, he said. Election commissioners were not available to verify those numbers at press time.
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