Mills kills Bradford annexation for good
By BOB RECOTTA THE LEADER

ALBANY - The annexation of the Bradford school district by Campbell-Savona will not go forward.

State Education Commissioner Richard Mills has upheld an appeal which nullifies the Nov. 17, 2005 vote when residents of both school districts supported the annexation of the neighboring districts.

Details of Mills' ruling made Thursday was made public Monday.

An appeal was filed in April by Bradford resident Patricia Wolverton after financial problems in the C-S district were exposed just months after the vote. The process of annexing the districts stopped shortly after when Mills issued a stay to review the appeal.

Wolverton's petition was accompanied by affidavits from 54 Brad-ford residents who claimed they would not have supported the annexation had they known C-S was $3 million in debt.

"Since the Nov. 17, 2005 referendum succeeded in Bradford by an 86 vote margin, and (Wolverton) has submitted 54 affidavits from Bradford voters who now state they would have voted otherwise, (Wolverton) has met her burden of demonstrating that the result of the referendum was affected by the irregularity," Mills said in his decision released Monday.

C-S's deficit was created largely by shortfalls in the 2004-05 budget. Much of it has been attributed to former Superintendent Scott Layton overestimating revenues and underestimating expenditures for that school year.

Jonathan Burman, SED spokesman, said Monday C-S can appeal the decision in state Supreme Court. C-S Superintendent Lynn Lyndes said he has not discussed an appeal with the school board.

The annexation would have given the newly formed district $25 million over the next 15 years in state aid. That would have allowed C-S to pay off its existing debt without purchasing bonds while leaving $20 million to address the district's facilities, add programs, sports teams and extra-curricular activities and stabilize taxes for district residents.

The decision now leaves the door open for the districts to attempt another annexation.

Tony Micha, superintendent of Greater Southern Tier BOCES, said the districts would have to start from the beginning by performing a study of a proposed annexation.

After a study is performed, both districts would need to conduct either a straw poll or a petition drive to gauge support for the annexation before a final vote could be held.

Both Lyndes and Heidi Lane, president of the Bradford school board, indicated neither school district is inclined to revisit an annexation at this time.