The Record-Review – The official newspaper of Bedford and Pound Ridge, New York
The Record-Review • 16 The Parkway, Katonah, NY 10536 • (914) 244-0533 • Fax (914) 244-0537 • www.record-review.com
©2013 THE RECORD, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IS FORBIDDEN WITHOUT PUBLISHER’S WRITTEN PERMISSION.
Jump to: THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER or THE RIVERTOWNS ENTERPRISE
-
•District voters to weigh in on $125M budget
-
•Trump’s Seven Springs homes get OK
-
•Katonah-Lewisboro: District hopes to ‘take new ground
-
•Katonah Fire Department celebrates new truck, renovations
-
•Bedford Hills carnival offers fun supports field trips
RECORD-REVIEW HEADLINES THIS WEEK
The official newspaper of the towns of Bedford and Pound Ridge, New York
Community news, delivered
Every week more than 3,800 households in Bedford and Pound Ridge enjoy the award-winning reporting and photography of The Record-Review. No other source in print or online provides more thorough coverage of local government, schools, sports, arts and business. Our readers have been in the know since The Record-Review was founded in 1995. Subscribers enjoy convenient and reliable home delivery to their mailboxes every Friday for only $44/year. Subscribe today!
SPOTLIGHT
EDITORIAL
April 12, 2013
READ ONLINE
March 8, 2013
READ ONLINE
March 22, 2013
February 15, 2013
ADVERTISERS
Your customers read
our newspaper.
Grow your business. Retain loyal customers.
January 18, 2013
November 16, 2012
October 19, 2012
Explore our award-winning Special Sections
The Record-Review is delivered to subscribers’ mailboxes every Friday
for only $40 per year.
Click here to subscribe
or to purchase a gift subscription.
-
•View our Media Kit for deadlines, specs and circulation information.
-
•Index to Advertisers
-
•Contact your Ad Representative.
Submit story ideas, announcements, press releases, letters to the editor, and photos.
By NATALIA BAAGE-LORD
Bedford Central residents will return to the polls on May 21 to vote on the district’s $125 million budget. It keeps all but one academic program and slashes nearly 20 staffing positions.
The administration has not shied away from saying that the 2013-14 budget was one of the most difficult it has assembled in recent history. The $125,057,000 budget stayed under the tax levy cap, at 3.37 percent, and is up 1.92 percent — nearly $2.36 million — from the current 2012-13 budget.
Approved by the school board at its April 17 meeting, the budget retains all of its programs except for its Academic Community for Educational Success module. In addition, the cuts forced the termination of 19.5 staff positions, for which a number of board members, including president Susan Elion Wollin, expressed remorse.
The administration began the process working with a larger budget of over $128 million, but implemented cuts to get to the district’s current budget level. While the upcoming budget was tough to shape, said assistant superintendent Mark Betz, the administration worked hard to ensure that students will receive the best education in the coming year. They said they attempted to implement the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible.
Some cuts included a reduction of clubs at the high school and middle school.
District ‘balancing act’
We had a reporter a few years back who spelled out the acronym “ESL” as “English as a Special Language.” This “special language” might be especially reserved for New York State’s school budget votes. In the district’s overall budget proposal, we read: “The proposed school year tax levy, not including levy for permissible exclusions or levy to support library debt, is $103,887,884. School tax levy limit, not including levy for permissible exclusions, is $103,887,966.”
As interpreted by Bedford Central School District’s assistant superintendent Mark Betz, this means that part of the budget is not restricted by the 2 percent tax cap. Thus the actual level of increase in the district is 3.37 percent, since a part of the tax levy is allowed to be excluded from the 2 percent tax cap mandated by the state. These can include such items as capital debt — principal and interest on mortgages, and construction costs — and are removed from the calculations. Read more >
Voters to decide on district’s $125M budget
After 18 years, Trump gets final approval for Seven Springs
By ANTHONY R. MANCINI
Business magnate Donald Trump’s plan to build luxury homes on the Seven Springs estate near the Byram Lake Reservoir received its final approval from Bedford’s planning board on May 14, allowing development to begin on the site after 18 years of hurdles.
“It’s really kind of an oasis in Westchester: incredibly private, incredibly exclusive. It’s just really an amazing piece of land,” said Mr. Trump’s son Eric Trump, who is overseeing the project, on May 15. “Bedford’s an amazing area, and that area’s second to none.”
Eric Trump said 12 new houses would be built on the property, which is situated between Bedford, New Castle and North Castle. Read more >
Charles Martabano presents plans for luxury homes at Donald Trump’s Seven Springs on Tuesday night at the meeting of the Bedford Planning Board.
