North Bellmore trustee race ends in tie; budgets pass

The race for a seat on the North Bellmore Board of Education pitting incumbent JoAnn DeLauter against challenger Frank LaMagra ended in a tie, with 799 votes for each of the candidates.

According to school officials, the vote totals were recounted several times, with the same result each time, meaning that the race will have to be decided in a special runoff election.

Also in North Bellmore, incumbent Rosemarie Corless lost her seat to challenger Peter Mayo, who received 766 votes to Corless’s 637. Challenger Greg Bashaw had 311 votes in the three-way race.

The North Bellmore District’s $50.5 million 2013-14 budget passed with 1,084 “yes” votes — 61 percent of the total — and 693 “no” votes. Also, a proposition to move to at-large voting, in which all candidates run against one another, passed.

In Bellmore, incumbents Janet Goller and Maryanne Kelly were re-elected in an at-large election. Kelly received 921 votes; Goller, 905; and challenger Scott Cohen, 440.

The Bellmore School District’s $32.9 million budget passed by a margin of 806-354. The “yes” votes accounted for 69 percent of the total.

The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s $139.5 million budget passed with 3,193 yes votes and 1,762 no votes. The “yes” vote accounted for 64 percent of the total.