School budget, bond and board election results

Bedford Central budget passes easily in light voter turnout

Bedford Central School District budget results

The Bedford Central School District 2026-27 budget passed easily on Tuesday, and two trustee positions were filled without opposition.

Preliminary results show the budget getting 754 “Yes” votes and 271”No” votes, a margin of 73.6% to 26.4%. The margin was slightly better than last year, when the budget passed with 71%. But the total votes cast was only 1,025 — exactly 1,000 fewer than last year’s 2,025.

In the trustee election, Leo Sposato, who is currently serving out an unexpired term that he was elected to fill last year, received 746 votes. Erin Hayes, a first-time candidate, received 764 votes.

In last year’s election, which was a seven-way race for four seats, Sposato received 971 votes, which placed him fourth, enough to fill the unexpired term.

— Jeff Morris

Katonah-Lewisboro 2026-2027 budget passes, Prop. 3 fails by 22 votes

KLSD bond and propostion results

By JEFF MORRIS  Official results of the Katonah-Lewisboro School District budget vote and trustee election show that Propositions 1 and 2, the school budget and capital reserve access propositions, both passed easily. But Proposition 3, authorizing bonding for a pre-K and Community Center at the former Lewisboro Elementary School, failed, by a margin of 22 votes.

Trustees Lorraine Gallagher and Bill Swertfager were reelected, and newcomer Stacey Isaacson won election to the board.

A breakdown by election district reveals the strongest support for both Propositions 1 and 2 at Katonah Elementary, where Prop. 1 passed 634 to 154, or 80% to 20%, and Prop. 2 passed 624 to 163, or 79% to 21%. Support was nearly as strong at Increase Miller, with Prop. 1 passing by 830 to 337, or a 71% approval margin, and Prop. 2 getting 835 “Yes” votes to 335 “No” votes, the same percentages as Prop. 1.

As is usually the case in the district, approval was not as lopsided among voters at Meadow Pond, where Prop. 1 passed 483 to 395, or 55% to 45%, with Prop. 2 performing slightly better at 524 to 355, or 60% approval.

Proposition 3 was decided at Meadow Pond. It passed at both Katonah 461 to 328 with 58% in favor, and Increase Miller 602 to 577, with 51% in favor. But at Meadow Pond, there were 348 in favor and 528 opposed, or 40% for and 60% against. The margin of 180 votes against the measure wiped out the 133 vote advantage at Katonah and the 25 vote advantage at Increase Miller.

Proposition 1 calls for the adoption of the district’s proposed $131.8 million 2026-27 budget, a 3.46% annual budget increase and a 3.72% tax levy increase. Proposition 2 authorizes the district to access funds set aside for infrastructure improvements including athletic facilities and ADA compliance upgrades. Proposition 3 would have authorized  bonding to renovate Lewisboro Elementary School into a facility for districtwide pre-K and a community center in anticipation of a state-funded mandate for universal pre-K. 

Board members In the trustee race, Bill Swertfager received the highest number of votes, 1,628. Lorraine Gallagher was second, with 1,592. Stacey Isaacson came in third with 1,333. As a result, Gallagher will fill the remainder of Jon Poffenberger’s term, through June 30, 2028. Her term takes effect immediately, and she has, in fact, already been sworn in. Swertfager’s and Gallagher’s terms will run through June 30, 2029.

The remaining finishers were Melissa Dilmaghani, with 1,241, and Nancy Bachana, with 908.

As with the proposition votes, candidate support varied by election district. In Katonah, Dilmaghani received the most votes with 484, followed by Isaacson with 453, Gallagher with 416, Swertfager with 370, and Bachana with 276. But at Increase Miller, Swertfager led all candidates with 695, followed by Gallagher with 658, Isaacson with 557, Dilmaghani with 457 and Bachana with 394. That order of finish was duplicated at Meadow Pond, as Swertfager led with 563 votes, Gallagher had 518, and Isaacson was third with 323. Dilmaghani and Bachana followed with 300 and 238 respectively. There were a total of 74 write-in votes, 44 of those coming at Meadow Pond.

Turnout Turnout was considerably ahead of the last two years, but not as high as in 2023, when there were 3,267 voters. That year, 23% of registered voters participated — the highest percentage in the past 10 years without counting 2020’s 38%, which is an outlier because in that year, ballots were mailed to all registered voters due to the pandemic.

The total number of registered voters in the district this year is 14,526, down from 14,860 in 2025. Using the highest number of votes cast on one ballot item — 2,844 on Prop. 3 — that would make this year’s turnout 19%, compared with 7% last year, 12% in 2024, 10% in the November 2022 construction bond vote, and 16% in the regular May 2022 vote. Prior to that, turnout ranged from 8% to 12% every year, making this year’s turnout unusually high.

Reaction At press time, there had not been any reaction to the election results from the board or administration, with a board meeting scheduled for Thursday evening. Superintendent Raymond Blanch said only, “At Thursday’s meeting, the Board of Education will have a conversation about the results of Tuesday’s vote and decide on next steps.”

That meeting occurred too late for this week’s edition, and will be covered next week.