O’side incumbents tout successes

Oceanside’s budget vote and school board election will take place on Tuesday.

The proposed 2010-11 budget is an increase of $2.5 million, bringing the total budget to over $128.5 million. To help finance the budget, the district imposed a tax levy increase of $2.3 million.

Running for school board are Bob Transom and Maryanne Lehrer, both unopposed.

Transom, the current vice president of the Board of Education, has been a board member for 12 years. He decided to run for re-election because he feels that he still has more that he can offer to Oceanside residents as a member of the board.

“I want to continue making things transparent, the budget process transparent,” said Transom. “And I also want to delve deeply into energy management and make the district as energy-efficient as it can possibly be.”

Lehrer is one of the longest-serving board members, finishing up 33 years as a trustee. She sits on many different organizations representing both Oceanside and Long Island. “I still think there’s a lot of opportunity to serve, and a lot of things I’m doing connected with it, where I represent the district outside of Oceanside,” said Lehrer.

Both candidates support the budget, which they feel is both tight and reasonable.

“I think the budget is fiscally responsible,” said Transom. “I think that we analyzed each line in the budget and compared it to the encumbrance reports, and we’ve been doing that ongoing each month, so we sort of have a nicely balanced line-item approach to budgeting.”

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