Mount Sinai's Revised School Budget Passes

The Mt. Sinai school district's revised 2012-13 budget has passed, keeping the district off an austerity budget for the upcoming school year that would have brought severe cuts to the schools.

The budget passed by a vote of 1,492-735 (67 percent) Tuesday. The original budget, which pierced the tax cap, was

The passed budget is a .53 percent decrease from last year's budget. This budget includes a tax levy at the cap of 2.13 percent, an average monthly increase of $13.40 for residents, and includes .

"We're obviously pleased with it," outgoing Superintendent Anthony Bonasera said. "If it hadn't passed it would've been tremendously devastating for the community and the kids in the program. It would have been nice if this was the vote last time because we would have had our total program back, but the people spoke, we responded to that and the results were good."

, will now have a budget of $54.6 million budget to deal with as he enters his new role.

"If this budget failed we would have had to back up to a previous budget which would have cost us three million dollars more and the cuts would have been catostraphic," Crocetti said. "The support we got from our community this evening is a testimonial to putting the children first."

Bonasera added, "I'm happy for Mr. Crocetti because he has a budget to work with next year...there's not much in it, but he has one to work with."

In after the original budget failed, Bonasera said that Mount Sinai lost about four million dollars in state aid and assessment levy and the district turned to piercing the cap in order to keep the current programs in place.

After being appointed the new superintendent on May 22, Crocetti called the first budget vote a success because it represented the wishes of the community. He echoed that statement Tuesday night.

"The democratic process is what keeps our public officials and our community informed and this is what our schools are based on," he said. "It is a statement of America. That's why we have a vote...we need to hear peoples' opinions."