Qualified voters of the Schuylerville Central School District will vote on a $37.4 million proposed budget for the 2020-21 school year via absentee ballot, per the Governor’s Executive Order No. 202.26. The Schuylerville Central School District will provide absentee ballots with a postage paid return envelope to each qualified voter. Qualified voters must return an absentee ballot via a postage paid return envelope to the District Clerk no later than 5 p.m. on June 9, 2020.
Qualified Voters
A qualified voter is someone who is a U.S. citizen, 18 years of age, a resident of the district for at least 30 days prior to the vote, and not disqualified by any reason set forth in NYS Election Law §5-106. Qualified voters on the most recent years’ poll lists will be automatically sent an absentee ballot. Anyone who meets the definition of a “qualified voter,” but does not believe he/she will be on the school district’s poll list, please contact District Clerk, Judi Dunkel via email at dunkelj@schuylerville.org as soon as possible to ensure timely receipt of an absentee ballot for the 2020 budget vote.
Budget Details
The $37.4 million proposed budget for the 2020-21 school year increases spending by 3.4 percent over the current year’s budget, and carries a proposed tax levy increase of 2.6 percent. Since the levy increase is within the district’s tax levy limit as calculated under the state’s tax levy “cap” law, the budget will require a simple majority to pass. A budget hearing will take place on May 28 at 5:30p.m. via WebEx for presentation of the budget. Click here for a link to access the hearing. Following the hearing, an online newsletter will be posted with more budget details.
Board of Education Election
Qualified voters will elect two members to the Board of Education:
- One member to a five-year term beginning on July 1, 2020
- One member to fill the unexpired term of Mike Booth, beginning on June 9, 2020 and expiring on June 30, 2021
Below are candidate profiles of individuals who have turned in petitions to be on the ballot:
Bernard Buff, Jr. is a current member of the Schuylerville Board of Education, board appointed to fill an interim position until the next board election. He currently works as a construction engineer for Verizon Wireless in North Greenbush. Buff graduated from New Lebanon High School, earned an associate’s degree from Hudson Valley Community College and a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Buff and his wife, Cathleen, have lived in the district since 2009 and have two daughters. Maeve is a sophomore at Schuylerville High School and Anika is in eighth grade at Schuylerville Middle School. The family lives at 171 Southard Rd. in Saratoga Springs.
Jack Macica is running to return for an eighth term on the Schuylerville Board of Education, where he’s served as president (9 years), vice president (20 years), legislative liaison (2 years) and Board auditor (3 years). Macica retired in November 2018 from State Farm Insurance, where he worked as a project manager for agency system distributions. Macica graduated from Schuylerville High School and earned a degree in business management through the SUNY system. Macica and his wife, Jamie, live at 844 Rt. 29 in Saratoga Springs. They have two daughters – Danielle Bailey and Elizabeth Macica – who both graduated from Schuylerville High School, as well as two grandchildren – Ian Bailey and Campbell Bailey – who are currently in grades nine and seven, respectively, at Schuylerville Central School.