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Friday, October 15, 2021
Vol. 70, No. 42
GOLD COAST FILM FEST KICKS OFF PAGE 27
106 MPH BEFORE FATAL CRASH
CURRAN WINS BIPARTISAN BACKING OF MAYORS
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Spirits high, rain heavy at Mineola St. Fair Vendors, attendees scatter during showers BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y
PHOTO BY BRANDON DUFFY
Sunday’s Mineola Street Fair was the first to be held since last year’s cancellation due to COVID-19.
The first Mineola Street Fair held since the COVID-19 pandemic began was cut short due to inclement weather Sunday afternoon, two hours after it began. Residents slowly congregated on Jericho Turnpike as the fair began at 10 a.m., and the crowd grew until a downpour began at noon. There was no hope to wait it out as it rained harder for a prolonged period. Vendors quickly had to pack up and head back to their cars. For the roughly two hours the fair went on, attendees were treated
to vendors, local organizations and businesses lined up between Mineola Boulevard and Willis Avenue. For food, there was an assortment of cuisines from Greek to Spanish, including tapas. Many restaurants and eateries extended their seating to the sidewalk, but attendees could also turn to a number of food trucks, which offered delectables such as zeppoles or fried Oreos. Also available as activities were ax throwing on Willis Avenue and a dunk tank hosted by the Mineola Junior Fire Department. As is tradition, a rotation of town officials Continued on Page 42
Mineola board disputes state audit BY B R A N D ON DUFFY
that criticized their handling of finances “pedantic and myopic,” citing a budgeting process that is Members of the Mineola transparent. In a statement sent to Blank Board of Education called a New York state comptroller’s report Slate Media, the board, consisting
of Margaret Ballantyne-Mannion, Patrick Talty, Brian Widman, Cheryl Lampasona and Stacey DeCillis, said it has long budgeted conservatively. “No mechanism exists for a public school system to run a deficit like many different levels of government can and often do, so our budget is necessarily conservative,” the trustees said.
The statement came in response to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s 12-page audit report that said the district was mismanaging funds. The maximum surplus allowed is 4 percent, but the district’s surplus, or appropriated fund balance, reached 13 percent, according to the audit, and as a result, more taxes were levied than needed to fund operations.
In 1972, DiNapoli won his first election when he served as a trustee on the Mineola Board of Education as an 18-year-old, the first in New York State to hold public office. The board also cited uncertainty in regard to Albany, which once told school districts they might face a 20% cut in state aid. The board members said it would Continued on Page 42
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