Mike Spano will become the next mayor of Yonkers, N.Y., which saw a two-notch downgrade to its bond rating last month.
According to Westchester County unofficial election results, which cited 75% of precincts reporting, Spano, a 93rd District assemblyman who ran on the Democratic, Working Families, and Conservative lines, defeated Republican City Councilman John Murtagh by 56% to 34%.
GOP incumbent Philip Amicone could not seek re-election due to term limits.
Moody’s Investors Service last month lowered the city’s general obligation rating two notches to Baa1 from A2, and dropped its outlook to negative from stable.
Spano said during the bitterly contested campaign that he would consider merging redundant city departments.
In New Jersey, Democratic Sen. Robert Gordon of Fair Lawn narrowly defeated Republican John Driscoll, a Bergen County freeholder from Paramus, in the 38th Legislative District.
Gordon ran ads on New York City and New Jersey television stations criticizing Driscoll for supporting a plan to spend $400 million of public money on the stalled Xanadu mall and entertainment complex, since renamed American Dream at Meadowlands.
Voters in Princeton Borough and Princeton Township approved the consolidation of the towns into one entity, Princeton. It was the fifth attempt at consolidation in the Mercer County communities. Proponents say the move will save money.
Harrisburg, Pa., will have a new member on the all-Democratic City Council, which last month filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.
Sandra Reid, a fiscal analyst with the Pennsylvania Department of Treasury and a U.S. Navy veteran, was elected running on a ticket with successful incumbents Brad Koplinski and Susan Brown-Wilson.
Reid will replace Gloria Martin-Roberts, who did not seek re-election. While Martin-Roberts, the council president, is a political ally of Mayor Linda Thompson, Reid said during the campaign that she opposed the Thompson-supported state Act 47 recovery plan, which the council has rejected. Should Reid side with Thompson’s four opponents on the seven-member City Council, it would give the body a veto-proof majority.
Cumberland County, Maine, voters approved a $33 million bond measure by 58% to 43% to renovate its civic center in downtown Portland, home to the American Hockey League’s Portland Pirates.
Improvements will include widening the concourse areas and expanding the loading docks and staging areas. The Bangor Daily News cited approval of more than 2 to 1 in city precincts.
