Vera was seeking to have the vote set aside so that a new referendum could be held in May during the regular budget vote, as well as having a stay imposed so that no money could be moved to the reserve account until the commissioner had made a decision.
Vera said the stay was "not a big deal" unless the decision on whether to overturn the vote goes passed June 30.
"If it does, then the school can, and will take the surplus 2015- 2016 budget money and dump it into to this capital improvement reserve fund," Vera added.
Vera, who is manager of operation for the New York City School Construction Authority and a member of the Putnam Valley Central School District’s Citizens' Advisory Committee, believes that taking the surplus budget money and putting it in to the new reserve account and not applying it to future budgets, lessens the district's chance for any tax reduction.
"When they do find savings, they find another new program or expand an existing program to spend any savings rather then reduce or taxes. These new programs have not had an effect on the college readiness of our children when they graduate," he said.
He said that in regard to his petition, the school's attorney sent a response to the Commissioner denying every point including claiming he was disingenuous, because he was aware of the vote; that they also justified and quantified that they had followed the laws by properly notifying the voting public of the Dec 8 vote, and that they informed the public about the referendum and vote via the broadcast of their board meetings.
Vera said in return that the meetings are not broadcast live in his area, but are streamed on the board's website and rerun on TV at a later date.
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