Ridgewood officials: Apathy to blame for low voter turnout?
Thursday April 25, 2013, 4:43 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Ridgewood school officials and residents discussed possible reasons for the particularly low voter turnout at last week’s Board of Education (BOE) elections and budget vote.
Many questions were raised at this week’s BOE meeting, among them whether eligible voters were feeling apathetic this year, and if so, why.
According to Village Clerk Heather Mailander, about 12 percent of voters cast ballots, about 2,000 people. This is the district’s lowest voter turnout in recent years.
BOE President Sheila Brogan, who was first elected to the board in 1996 and retained her position after Monday’s BOE reorganization meeting, told The Ridgewood News last week that the turnout was “the lowest” that she had ever seen in her time on the board.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/204739061_Ridgewood_officials__Apathy_to_blame_for_low_voter_turnout_.ht
When was the last time if ever for high voter turnout for school budget?
Traditionally , the Yes vote was somewhere north of 2200 and the No’s were around 900
Two uncontested seats and a budget under the cap. Even if the budget were voted down it would have been passed by the council. The increase was relatively small.
It wasn’t under the cap, it was at the cap. Thank god the cap isn’t 5% or they would have raised taxes 6%. That’s how they operate.
Thed
OK, it was AT the cap. it was 2% and was going to pass. At that rate, even if it were voted down the council would have passed it anyway. There really was nothing to vote for or against.
i meant to say they would raise it 5% not 6%. but you know what i mean. i agree, voting it down wouldn’t do anything. i was all happy when we voted it down a couple of years ago, and then the f’n council voted to take the 100k off that they already knew was coming in lower anyway, so they really didn’t cut anything.
what’s the point?????
according to the BOE, nothing can be cut. i call B.S. on that.
i would say that at my job if i knew i could get away with it. but that’s not how normal institutions operate. the education system, here and at all levels, has no accountability. why else would college cost $150k+ now? jeez, we are getting bankrupted by the BOE who imply we need to keep paying insane taxes to get our kids into college/succeed, and then get killed once the kids get there. Then, good luck getting a job that pays the bills….
thed
Why bother to vote? The last time it was turned down the ‘then’ council members pretended to knock $100,000 off of a 90,000,000 budget.
Make it binding. No means no. ALSO, do as most towns do. Have the budget voted on in NOVEMBER>
I totally agree. I voted no the last time it did not passed (and I have kids in school BTW) and then it was passed by the council with a token deduction. I decided this year that I have better things to do with my time since there were no contested seats. Why vote no on spending when it accomplishes nothing.