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Katonah-Lewisboro Voters Approve Budget, Oust Three-Term Incumbent

CROSS RIVER, N.Y. -- Katonah-Lewisboro's proposed 2016-17 budget easily passed, while three-term incumbent Peter Treyz lost his bid for a fourth in an upset.

Peter Treyz, pictured, was unseated on Tuesday and failed in his bid for a fourth term on the Katonah-Lewisboro school board.

Peter Treyz, pictured, was unseated on Tuesday and failed in his bid for a fourth term on the Katonah-Lewisboro school board.

Photo Credit: Tom Auchterlonie
Left to right, at a forum: Julia Hadlock, Jeff Holbrook and Richard Stone. The trio won three seats on the Katonah-Lewisboro school board.

Left to right, at a forum: Julia Hadlock, Jeff Holbrook and Richard Stone. The trio won three seats on the Katonah-Lewisboro school board.

Photo Credit: Tom Auchterlonie

Results show that the budget passed by 1,197 votes to 364. 

For the third year in a row, Katonah-Lewisboro will have a budget with lower spending and lower property tax revenue. Total spending for the budget is $105,994,936, a decrease of 2.52. The tax levy, which is the total amount of property tax revenue collected for the budget, will decline by 3.21 percent.

Tax rates, which measure what taxpayers will owe per $1,000 of assessed value, are projected to decline across the district's four towns. The rate declines are by 2.10 percent in Lewisboro, 4.42 percent in Bedford (Katonah), 10.02 percent in North Salem and 3.75 percent in Pound Ridge.

The tax-rate changes vary across towns because properties are assessed differently in each municipality. Due to the discrepancies, an equation called the equalization rate is used to apportion the tax burden. The tax levy is subject to a state-mandated cap on growth, while tax rates are not.

Voters also approved a measure to appropriate $895,000 for new buses, which would be bough with cash on hand. The measure passed by 1,044 votes to 518.

Perhaps the most surprisingly development of the night came with the school board results. Incumbents Jeffrey Holbrook and Richard Stone were re-election with 1,101 and 877 votes, respectively. Challenger Julia Hadlock won the third board seat, receiving 1,032 votes. Treyz finished last with just 757 votes.

Under the district's at-large system, the top three recipients of votes won the three seats up for elections. 

Treyz, who was first elected in 2007, is a retired dentist with long-standing family roots in the district, having grown up in what is now Katonah-Lewisboro. Treyz has also had children and grandchildren go through the school system.

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