NEW SCOTLAND — An outcome that was all but assured came to pass on Tuesday as Voorheesville School District voters overwhelmingly approved a $30.1 million budget for the 2023-24 school year.

With 593 ballots cast, 452 were in favor of the now-voter-approved spending plan for next year while 141 residents were against it, or about 76 percent to 24 percent.

Given the staid atmosphere of this year’s election, it’s no surprise that turnout was about half last year’s, when incumbent Argi O’Leary and newcomer Robyn Willoughby trounced a couple of so-called parents’ rights candidates to earn four-year terms to the board. 

Other than 2019, when Rachel Gilker capitalized voters’ anti-incumbency sentiment toward the board and unseated incumbent President Doreen Saia, and 2020, which saw three open board seats and no in-person voting due to pandemic, voter turnout has been similar to this year’s.

This year’s count stayed pretty consistent with those of earlier competition-less elections, as in 2021 when two incumbents were unopposed and just 493 ballots were cast. Or 2018, which saw 655 voters cast ballots; or 2017, when just over 500 voted; or in 2016, when 966 voted; or the 766 who voted in 2015; or 2014, when 590 ballots were cast.

About 6,750 of the district’s 8,000 residents are over the age of 18, according to the latest Census Bureau data. 

The district’s $30.1 million budget for next year represents about a 6.9-percent increase over this year and comes with a 2.5-percent increase in the property-tax levy, which is estimated to be about $20.2 million, and translates to an under a 1-percent increase in taxes for property owners, according to the district. 

This year, after taking into account the uniform percentage each municipality has applied to its assessments, the tax rate in the three towns served by Voorheesville’s schools — New Scotland, Guilderland, and Berne — was about $16 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Despite being unopposed, voters took the time to send back to the school board its president, Gilker, and the previously-appointed Barbara Owens, who received 470 votes to Gilker’s 486, earning Gilker the full four-year term that was up for grabs this year. Owens, who in September took over the seat held by James Coffin for three decades, will serve out the remainder of Coffin’s term, two years. 

On Tuesday, the Voorheesville Public Library’s $1.28 million spending plan for next year, which is up about 4.6 percent from this year, was approved by voters in a five-to-one margin, 477 to 114, or about 81 percent to 19 percent. Georgia Gray, who faced no competition in her quest for a five-year library board bid, was the night’s biggest winner, receiving 493 votes. 

Also on Tuesday, residents voted in favor of a $422,000 proposition to purchase three new school buses.