Backed up

Busy the past few days, so I didn't get around to posting my reaction to the results from the vote on the New Paltz school budget.

The budget passed by a pretty good margin, with a lot more people voting than usual.

The "Yes" vote was 1,354; the "No" vote 959. I'm used to seeing the budgets pass by about 950 to 450.

The difference between "Yes" and "No" was 1% on the average tax levy. "Yes" made it a 3% increase. "No" would have made it a 2% increase. So I took some solace that there was such a healthy number of "No" votes wanting to take back that 1% difference.

Voters did shoot down the proposition to purchase a bunch of school buses. So, overall, they were not in a forgiving mood towards the School District.

Edgar Rodriguez was the top vote getter for the school board, and I think that can be attributed to his stand against the Middle School renovation bond. He was the only member of the board who was against it.

Bob Rich, a former member of the board, won the other seat that was up.

I was disappointed that the huge outpouring of voters who defeated the Middle School bond didn't show up this time, but perhaps their judgement was that 1% wasn't enough of a difference between "Yes" and "No" to get excited about. Still, I think that we're in a time when it's important to discipline the School District in any way that's available, and the "No" vote on the yearly budget is all the community has.

More later.