Vote for Byrne, school budget in Island Park

One of the most difficult tasks the Herald’s editorial board faces is endorsing a candidate when there are two who are qualified. Island Park’s Board of Education race this year presents us with just such a challenge.

Tara Byrne and Matthew Paccione are both good choices for the seat that Steven Foster is vacating. Both clearly have the desire and skills to serve the public. But Byrne has more experience, and manifested a deeper understanding of the issues facing the school district, no doubt a product of her work as president of the Island Park PTA, where she oversaw a number of positive changes. We believe she will make the best trustee, and we encourage voters to support her.

Sometimes you can just tell that a candidate isn’t right for public office, but that’s far from the case with Paccione. We hope he will continue his community service with Sacred Heart Church and the Knights of Columbus. We don’t feel that, in and of itself, Paccione’s age, 26, would be detrimental to his ability to serve. He says that he would bring a more youthful perspective to the board, and that’s certainly true. Indirectly, however, his youth works against him. He also claims that he would better represent the younger families of the community, but he does not have any children in the schools — as Byrne does — and we can’t help but see that as a disadvantage. Byrne is our choice.

The Herald also endorses the school district’s 2012-13 budget. We applaud school officials’ effort to keep expenses within the constrains of the state’s new tax-levy cap, which was no easy task. While those efforts resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts, those cuts are nothing compared with what the district would face if it were forced to adopt an austerity budget.

The district went to great pains to keep costs down, for which it should be commended. While the spending plan includes five layoffs, it saves money in other ways, and we urge residents to support it.

Voters should also approve the Island Park Library budget. Libraries provide their communities with invaluable resources, far beyond just books and DVDs. They are places for people to meet and discuss issues, as the Civic Association does every month. The library helps residents patronize local museums. It has also greatly expanded the programming it offers, attracting hundreds of people to the facility this year, and no doubt hundreds more next year.

Given that it comprises such a small fraction of your property tax bill, the library is one of best bargains in our community. Show that you agree with a vote of support next Tuesday.