Boes, Persons Re-elected in P’ville; Budget Approved Easily
Two Pleasantville Board of Education incumbents were re-elected Tuesday night, while voters overwhelmingly approved the district’s $49.6 million budget for 2018-19.
Trustee Larry Boes received 533 votes and Emily Persons collected 476 votes to retain their seats, defeating first-time candidate Keith Menig. Menig received 302 votes.
The budget, which carries a 3.08 percent tax levy increase, passed handily, 580-138. The tax rate increase for property owners is estimated to be 1.8 percent.
Boes and Persons, who were both elected to a third term, thanked the community for allowing them to continue their work on the board.
“I feel great,” Persons said. “I’m very thankful for everyone that came out and voted.”
Boes applauded Menig for getting involved and is hopeful other community members will step up in future elections. He added that he’s excited to get back to work and help the community.
“We have work to do and we’ll get back at it tomorrow like we always do,” Boes said. “I hope to continue to have the community be pleased with the work that we’re doing collectively.”
Superintendent of Schools Mary Fox-Alter said she was happy with the outcome of the vote despite a tough budget season. She touted the board and her colleagues in the administration for working diligently to craft a budget the public could support.
“I have a Board of Education that worked really hard, side by side with the administration to put together a budget that we believed would maintain the educational quality of our public school system yet find efficiencies where they were needed,” Fox-Alter said. “We’re delighted the community agreed.”
