NEW YORK- Two statewide ballot propositions that went to voters on Tuesday passed with large margins. One proposition had to do with the debt limits for some of the state’s school districts, and the other sought to exclude municipal debt limits for sewer projects.
The passage of the first proposition means a significant change for 57 of the state’s school districts. Schools designated as “small city school districts” will now have the same debt limits as the state’s other schools. An antiquated provision in state law subjected these schools to a different set of funding rules. In the Mid-Hudson Region, several school districts will be impacted including the Newburgh Enlarged, Port Jervis City, Poughkeepsie City, Middletown Enlarged, and Kingston City School Districts.
The passage of the second proposition comes as a relief to municipal leaders who utilize debt financing for sewer projects. The State Constitution limits the debt counties, cities, towns and villages can incur and the passage of the proposition means that for the next ten years these municipalities can remove from their constitutional debt limits debt incumbered for the construction of sewage facilities.
Both propositions were met with diverse, bipartisan support and faced few opponents.
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