Voters in the Warwick Valley Central School District approved the government's $13.8 million capital project proposal in a vote held on December 2.
Final statistics: 897 votes in favor and 295 votes against-more than 75% approval rate.
Funds approved by voters will be used to repair high schools, middle schools, Sanfordville and Park Avenue Elementary School.
According to the district’s statement on its website, some of these projects will include: a new roof in Sanfordville; new windows in the park; and new unit ventilators for middle and high schools.
The district also plans to expand a multi-sports natural grass sports field in the stadium; a new track; and enclosed wall-type outdoor toilets in other projects in the plan.
The statement continued: "The capital project aims to create a healthier and safer learning environment for students, faculty and staff; and provide valuable energy and operational savings in the future.
"The implementation of the WVCSD 2021 capital project will not have additional tax impact on school district residents. The school district uses existing capital reserves and maximizes the use of state construction assistance to plan capital project expenditures."
How will all this be paid
The new national construction assistance will cover a total of 8.8 million U.S. dollars of capital projects; according to an email exchange with Warwick Valley School Director, Dr. David Leach, the remaining 5 million U.S. dollars will come from "funds set aside in capital reserves approved by voters in the region ".
Leach said that compared with other capital project votes, the voter turnout rate is high.
Leach pointed out that the voter turnout rate was higher in 2019, when voters rejected the proposal to lay artificial turf on regional courts because the person in charge said that the measure was "controversial."
In contrast, according to Leach's email, the average total number of votes for the first four capital project votes was 491 - in addition to the above-mentioned 2019 ballot, the total number of votes on the turf issue was 2,143.
This year, there were 1,192 votes.
These 1,192 people account for 6.56% of the total possible 18,184 registered voters.
Voters agreed with another proposal on the ballot, which would create a capital reserve fund of $10 million to save for future expenditures as needed, awaiting approval by voters at the time. This fund will replace the current funds and be used to pay for the capital project just approved.
The final number of votes for Proposal 2 was 908 votes in favor and 277 votes against-the approval rate was close to 77%.
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