All propositions pass in Voorheesville

The Enterprise — Lisa Nicole Viers

The two incumbents for the Voorheesville School Board, Kristine Gravino, left, and Cynthia Monaghan, sat together and waited for the results of the budget vote to be announced on Tuesday evening.

VOORHEESVILLE — Shortly after 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, a small crowd heard the news that every proposition up for vote had passed.

The group, mostly made up of school board members, clapped and nodded as each proposal was read along with the voting numbers.

With 590 total votes cast for the Voorheesville School District budget, it passed with 414 in favor and 176 against; a 70.2 percent approval.

The budget of $22,713,608 sits close to the state-set levy cap, and is $327,696 more than the 2013-14 budget, an increase of 1.15 percent. 

At a public forum held March 24, members of the community raised their questions and concerns about the budget, mostly pointed at class sizes and elective offerings.

Board members noted the cuts were not due to any judgments on the importance of certain courses over others, but were because of falling enrollment in the district as a whole. 

An increase of $144,210 in state aid allowed Voorheesville to keep an additional section of fourth grade as well as push back the phasing out of French language classes, giving students an option other than Spanish for at least the near future.

The proposition to purchase two school buses and one maintenance truck with a plow, totaling $220,000, passed with 410 out of a total of 590 votes in favor, and 180 against.

A $90,000 capital improvement fund had 424 out of 587 votes in favor of it, with 163 against.

There were two open seats on the Board of Education in Voorheesville, and the only runners were the two women who have held those seats for the past three years.

“It’s gonna be tight,” said James Coffin, a long-time Voorheesville Board of Education trustee, jokingly. The small crowd laughed before the votes were read.

Cynthia M. Monaghan and Kristine L. Gravino will both be starting their second consecutive terms on the board this summer, with Gravino receiving 416 votes and Monaghan tallying up 434.

The only proposition that passed by less than 69 percent was the Voorheesville Public Library budget.

The Voorheesville Public Library, with a budget almost $13,000 less than this year’s, had its $1,150,675 budget approved by 61.6 percent, with a total of 591 votes cast, 364 for and 227 against.

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