BEEKMANTOWN, Ny. -
Teachers, administrators and even bus drivers face an uncertain future in Beekmantown New York.
That's because people are being asked to vote on a budget that includes cuts at all levels. The polls close at 8:00 PM Tuesday.
Even on a rainy day, people in Beekmantown, New York showed up to vote Tuesday.
David Tinker's kids are out of school, but he voted in favor of an increased school budget, even if it means paying more in property taxes.
"The activities such as sports and special programs, which are very important to our youth," Tinker said.
But many of those programs would be cut in the nearly 37-million dollar budget. "We will have not as many offerings in some of our interscholastic activities for students, sometimes we sponsor two teams, we'll have to cut back and have those reduced to one," Superintendent of Beekmantown Central School District, Scott Amo said.
In addition to cuts in services, there will be about 38 positions eliminated with this budget. That includes teachers, administrators and driver's ed teacher Brad Countermine. He's one of the people who won't be returning next year. "It's frustrating, but what can you do?" Countermine said.
Voter James Judkins is sympathetic, but says it's a tough economy for everyone. "We're trying to do more with less and we hope the school tries to do more with less," Judkins said.
Several factors contributed to the latest budget plan, including a property tax cap levy law, the economy and less state aid. "Those three things, acting together, created a rather dark cloud for us this year," Amo added.
