Middletown approves budget, three incumbents MIDDLETOWN - Township voters approved a $111.3 million tax levy and also re-elected three incumbents to the Board of Education on April 17. Board President Dawn Diorio received 4,273 votes while Leonora Caminiti and Patricia Walsh each received 3,786 votes. Rookie campaigner Mark Sobel garnered 2,319 votes. The passage of the $135,915,737 total budget means that the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay $4,668 in school taxes in the year ahead. Under the spending plan, the school tax rate will rise by 7.4 cents per $100 of assessed value. This year marks the second time Middletown's budget has passed in the last three tries. Last year's question was rejected by a narrow 127-vote margin. "We made a very concerted effort this year to get the word out about our budget and let the people in town know how important this was," Interim Superintendent of Schools Karen Bilbao said. "All of our PTAs did a great job, along with our building administrators and principals." The budget will allow for a new teacher to be hired at Middletown High School North for $80,000, three middle school teachers at a cost of $240,000, and the construction of an artificial turf field at the school, which will cost about $179,000 per year for five years. The district also budgeted a little over $550,000 to finance a 10-year capital lease to facilitate the replacement of heating and ventilation units in the district's elementary schools, which was supposed to have been started last year. Bilbao also said that the district will look at what aspects of the budget campaign may have been the most effective and will continue to implement them in the coming years' budgets. "People really seemed to like the mailings that we sent out," Bilbao said. She also took the time to comment on the fact that the three incumbents will be back on the board. "It really does help with continuity. Now we can continue to move forward without missing a step," Bilbao said.