Historically low voter turnout as all five school budgets pass
In a year with no school board races and minimal spending increases, North Fork voter turnout reached unprecedented lows Tuesday.
Only 1,617 residents cast a ballot in the five school budget votes, the smallest turnout since 1986. Tuesday’s vote count reflects a 61 percent dropoff from a decade ago, when in 2007 more than 4,000 residents showed up at the polls.
The result of this historic dropoff: all five spending plans were approved by wide margins.
“While we are always happy to have our budgets pass, we were concerned about voter turnout with a 0 percent tax levy increase and uncontested election,” said Mattituck-Cutchogue superintendent Anne Smith. “I think we saw that come true because two years ago when we didn’t have a contested election, we had 100 more votes than this year. Sometimes people may think the vote was not needed.”
Even in New Suffolk, where an estimated 6.5 percent tax levy increase forced administrators to pierce the state property tax cap, turnout dipped more than 30 percent and the budget was approved by 79 percent of voters.
Collectively, 78 percent of area residents who voted Tuesday cast a yes vote for their school spending plan. Only Mattituck — at a still robust 74 percent — failed to gain approval from more than three quarters of its voters.
For the Greenport School District, the favorable turnout also meant approval of a referendum to establish a $750,000 capital reserve, enabling the district to transfer budget surplus into a fund for specific capital improvements over the next 10 years. Administrators said the reserve fund will enable the district to save money by avoiding borrowing.
“I’m very grateful and extremely appreciative of the community’s support,” said superintendent David Gamberg. “Particularly for the forward thinking of establishing the capital reserve that will pay back dividends well into the future in terms of sustainable infrastructure in the building. It will ensure that we maintain and preserve the investment in the community of Greenport.”
Incumbents ran unopposed in all five school board elections.
GREENPORT
Proposed budget: $18,365,500
YES 235
NO 55
Referendum: Establish a $750,000 capital reserve fund
YES 232
NO 55
Board of Education
Kirsten Droskoski 237
OYSTERPONDS
Proposed budget: $5,704,425
YES 116
NO 25
Board of Education
Jeffrey Demarest 121
Janice Caufield 120
MATTITUCK-CUTCHOGUE
Proposed budget: $40,765,316
YES 414
NO 147
Board of Education
Brian Mealy 486
Charles Anderson 471
SOUTHOLD
Proposed budget: $29,440,000
YES 451
NO 108
Library proposition
YES 469
NO 91
Board of Education
Scott Latham 491
Brian Tobin 480
NEW SUFFOLK
Proposed budget: $1,110,701.32
YES 52
NO 14
Board of Education
Tony Dill 59
