Bangor residents to vote on school budget today
6/9/09 | 3 comments
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Bangor residents to vote on school budget today


By Nok-Noi Ricker
BDN Staff

BANGOR, Maine — Bangor residents will go to the polls today to cast ballots in the $42 million school budget referendum.

Polls open at 7 a.m.

Bangor is one of many communities statewide — among them Brewer and the SAD 63 communities of Holden, Eddington and Clifton — that has school budget referendum voting on Tuesday. School budget validation referendums now are required by the state.

This is the second year Bangor residents will have had the final say on whether the school budget gets approved.

One person who voted early in Bangor on Saturday was Donna Shaw, who said she did so at her husband’s urging.

“I would have waited until Tuesday,” she said. “He came in yesterday.”

In Bangor, 50 percent of the votes in the November 2008 election were cast by absentee ballot, City Clerk Patti Dubois has said.

Budden, Owens and election clerk Betty Snively speculated that this year’s low turnout for early voting was because the school budget was the only issue on the ballot.

“They should vote — it’s their money,” Owens said of residents.

Shaw said she does not expect a high turnout during Tuesday’s referendum because “most don’t vote [on school issues] unless they have kids or grandkids.”

On Tuesday, polls will be open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Those who have not registered to vote may do so at the polls at the civic center, Snively said.

nricker@bangordailynews.net

990-8190

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Comments
3 comments on this item
On 6/9/09 at 10:48 AM, jwlabrat wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

GO VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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On 6/9/09 at 4:55 PM, DavidH wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

If the referendum is a closely guarded secret than no one but the school teachers and the administration show up and vote yes.

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On 6/9/09 at 9:47 PM, glenna wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

It shouldn't be a vote by just those with kids or grandkids in the schools. It takes EVERYONE's taxes to pay for it and you can believe EVERYONE WILL GET THE BILL. The last year's school budget in SAD63 for 947 K-12 students cost $9,767.00 per student! Seems to me college kids can get a pretty good education (tuition and maybe books) for that kind of money.

As to DavidH's comments, no voter/taxpayer will really know what's going on behind the scenes if he/she doesn't go to School Board meetings. (They're usually held only once a month - or the Board's Finance Committee meetings.) That's where the voter gets to see the games being played and which members are taking care of the voters' business and which ones are taking care of personal agendas.

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