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CityREVIEW NewRochelle May 19 & 26, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 15 | www.cityreviewnr.com
Latimer takes county executive nomination By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer
REPORTING LIVE... Richard Giacovas, a graduate of Iona College, became a reporter for News 12 Westchester in March 2015. As a reporter, Giacovas writes, shoots and edits all of his own work. For story, see page 9. Photo/Andrew Dapolite
Voters approve $259.6M proposed school budget Residents approved the City School District of New Rochelle’s proposed budget for the 2017-2018 school year on Tuesday by a vote of 2,035 to 719, a 74 percent approval. Voters also elected Amy Moselhi and Paul Warhit to the Board of Education. They will serve five-year terms on the school board from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2022. The $259.6 million budget represents a 2.34 percent increase over the previous year’s budget, one of the lowest in years. The increase in the tax levy is 1.995 percent and complies with the state’s required tax levy cap. The total proposed taxes to be collected by the school district will be $204.4 million, or 78.75 percent of the budget. In addition, $43 million of revenue will
come from state aid and $12.1 million from other sources. “The Board of Education is grateful to the community for its support of the 2017-2018 budget,” said Board of Education President Rachel Relkin. “Moving ahead, we look forward to continuing our pursuit of providing a high quality and challenging education to all our students.” “I am truly grateful to this community for supporting this budget, which holds true to our commitment to provide the very best education for our students while remaining fiscally responsible,” added Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Osborne. “In addition to maintaining all academic programs, the budget adds positions
to accommodate for enrollment increases, maintains favorable class sizes and meets pressing student needs.” Those positions include a parttime Trinity psychologist, a fulltime Foundations life skills program counselor position at New Rochelle High School, a part-time Isaac E. Young Middle School English as a Second Language teacher, and a full-time Davis Elementary teacher. The budget also supports critical ongoing professional development of teachers and administrators. In addition, the budget includes funding to support vital instructional technology enhancements, BUDGET continued on page 8
After a delayed nominating process, the Westchester County Democratic Party announced today that state Sen. George Latimer has secured the party’s official backing in the county executive race this fall. Latimer, if the party’s leaders have their way, will now go on to challenge two-term, incumbent County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican. Two days after county Democratic officials held a nearly sixhour-long convention on Wednesday, May 10, to nominate its slate of candidates for the November election, party leaders reconvened on Friday, May 12 at county Board of Elections headquarters in White Plains to count the votes between Latimer and county Legislator Ken Jenkins, of Yonkers. Latimer, 63, who announced his candidacy in April, received 71 percent of the convention vote of local committee district leaders to Jenkins 29 percent. After handily securing his party’s backing, Latimer reflected on previous campaign challenges, and honed in on uniting the Democratic Party, a message he also focused on during his convention speech. “Through all of those things, I’ve persevered; and I’m going to continue persevere and look forward to November,” Latimer told the Review after officially receiving the nomination. “Amongst Democrats, we’re all brothers even if we disagree.” But which Democrat will ultimately run against Astorino in November remains undecided at this point, as Jenkins confirmed that he plans to primary Latimer for the right to represent Democrats in the
general election. Jenkins, 55, has consistently called for the registered Democratic voters of Westchester to be have their say instead of party officials through the normal nominating process. Jenkins has said since he entered the race in August 2016 that he would take the nomination to a primary election if he did not get the party’s backing after the convention. “The convention is not at all a reflection of everyday Americans, of everyday voters,” he said in a statement before the votes were tallied. “And if we have learned anything from the Trump era, it’s that all Democrats should be involved— not less.” In keeping with that sentiment, Jenkins and his campaign did not attend the vote count on Friday afternoon. Instead, they were out talking to Democratic voters, who, he said, were disenfranchised by the nominating process. To cue a primary, Jenkins would have to collect 2,000 signatures of registered county Democrats and submit them to the county Board of Elections by July 13. He opted to forego that route in his previous bid for county executive in 2013, bowing out after he lost a close vote at the convention LATIMER continued on page 8
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