UPDATE: Voter turnout in Tuesday’s referendum was slow just before noon as rain fell outside Quaker Farms School.
“It’s a light turnout right now,” election moderator Augie Palmer, a former first selectman, said. “It started off light before the rain.”
As of 11:50, 421 of the town’s 8,365 registered voters — just over 5 percent — had cast ballots.
By comparison, 996 people voted in the first budget referendum last year.
Original story is below:
Oxford residents go to the polls Tuesday, May 15, to decide whether to approve budgets for next year totaling about $40.7 million dollars.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Quaker Farms School. Click here for a map.
The referendum, a sample ballot for which is posted below, asks residents three yes-or-no questions:
- whether to approve the municipal budget
- whether to approve the school budget
- whether to approve a one-time expenditure for road improvements.
Article continues after the ballot.
Oxford Referendum Sample Ballot
The budgets total $40,689,464:
- $26,548,247 in school spending, an increase of $609,101, or 2.3 percent.
- $13,407,217 for town operations, an increase of $26,501, or a 0.2 percent.
- $734,000 in one-time spending to repair several roads in town.
If approved, the mill rate would go from 23.21 to 24.10, an increase of .89 mills, or 3.82 percent.
On a house assessed at $250,000, that means property taxes would go from $5,802.50 to $6,025.
The proposed budget is reproduced at the bottom of this story.
Previous stories:
Oxford Sets May 15 Budget Referendum
Oxford Finance Board Trims $250,000 Off School Request
Tax Increased Bemoaned At Hearing On Oxford Budget
Oxford Budget Would Increase Taxes 4.2 Percent