D'Amato: 'Now the Real Work Will Begin' [VIDEO]

While Democrats John D'Amato and Ray Yazdi celebrated their victories in winning the election Tuesday night, both admitted there is hard work ahead of them come Jan. 1 when they are sworn into office.

"This was the easy part," said Yazdi at the Democrats' gathering at the Morse Lakes clubhouse.

According to unofficial election results provided by Borough Clerk Jane McCarthy, Yazdi and D'Amato defeated Republican candidates Ron Caputo and incumbent Council President Linda Huntley. Yazdi had 1,131 votes, D'Amato had 1,162 votes, Huntley had 693 votes and Caputo had 725 votes.

Yazdi said he will work hard with his fellow councilmembers to keep tax increases at a minimum and to continue to make improvements to the borough without costing residents more money.

"Any improvement for the town of Bloomingdale that's not going to cost me money, I'm in favor of," he said.

The referendum asking if voters approve of the at the was also approved Tuesday with 827 "yes" votes and 720 "no" votes. D'Amato said about 82 absentee ballots have yet to be counted.

"Whatever we do with the lighting project, we still have to work on cutting the costs," he said.

Yazdi added that the project would have originally had loan payments taken from the Recreation and Open Space Establishment (ROSE) Fund and that the purpose of the project fits into the description of what the fund was created for when established by referendum in 2001.

"It's the biggest reason why we created this ROSE Fund," he said.

Caputo said he was "disappointed" by the results of the election and the message Bloomingdale residents sent by their votes.

"I'm very disappointed," he said. "I'm distressed that the people of Bloomingdale would think more about lighting a baseball field than they do mitigating the flood zone."

D'Amato and Yazdi thanked voters. D'Amato added that he was proud to have won and that he learned a lot about the campaigning process through his opponents.

"I look forward to working with the other councilmembers starting Jan. 1," he said.