PLUMSTED – Ocean County officials confirmed on May 4 that Herb Marinari, who served on the Plumsted School District Board of Education for 15 years before deciding not to run for re-election several years ago, won a three-year term on the board through a write-in vote in the April 20 election.
There were three candidates on the Plumsted ballot in the race for two threeyear terms: Garrett Midgett III, Lawrence Downs and Paul Milligan.
According to official results provided by the Ocean County Board of Elections, Midgett received 852 votes and won a seat on the school board.
Marinari received 620 write-in votes, according to the official results, and that was enough for him to win a three-year term.
Milligan received 571 votes and Downs received 492 votes in their unsuccessful bids for office.
The official result on the question of the Plumsted School District tax levy was 1,223 no votes and 565 yes votes. Voters rejected a $9.5 million general fund tax levy to support a total budget of $22 million for the 2010-11 school year.
The Township Committee is now reviewing the school budget. The governing body is charged with certifying a tax levy for the school district. The committee may certify a tax levy lower than $9.5 million, it may suggest specific items to be cut from the budget or it may certify the tax levy at the amount that was proposed by the board and defeated by the voters.
The school board can accept the dollar amount of the tax levy that is certified by the committee, but it does not have to agree with specific line-item cuts. Should the board disagree with the certified tax levy, it may appeal to the state commissioner of education.
The committee must certify a tax levy for the school district by May 19.