On Tuesday, May 21, the polls to vote for the Ithaca City School District budget and board of education election will open at noon and stay open until 9 p.m. This year's ballot and budget is a particularly contentious one, with the most recent public budget hearing being packed with residents of the district speaking out against the budget.
What's on the ballot?
The first item that voters will see on the ballot is the choice of three board of education candidates. There are 7 candidates this year, including incumbents Moira Lang, Eldred Harris, Adam Krantweiss and challengers Steve Cullen, Barry Derfel, Todd Fox and Emily Workman.
For more information on the candidates for this year's board of education election, view the Ithaca Times' breakdown of the candidates here.
After choosing the three candidates of their choice, voters will see three propositions, which they can vote for or against.
The first proposition is the controversial $168 million 2024-25 budget. If voted down, the board can choose to propose an alternate budget and hold another vote. If the second vote fails, the board will have to adopt a contingency budget, where they will only be allowed to levy as much money as they did in the 2023-24 budget, which was $107 million and did not require an override of the state-imposed tax cap. Because the budget is over the tax cap this year, this proposition will require a 60% supermajority vote to pass.
The second proposition would allow the board to use funds from the District's 2022 capital reserve fund to purchase up to four electric buses, four propane buses, and six passenger vans, with a maximum amount of $3.2 million.
The third proposition is asking voters to authorize the district to establish a $125 million capital improvement bond for a capital project to improve the district’s bus garage and add more chargers for electric buses. Construction for this capital project will begin in 2026. The district currently has a 7% debt service allocation integrated into its budget from the 2019 capital project, which the district says will not increase if this proposition is passed.
You must be 18 years old, a citizen of the U.S., registered to vote in Tompkins County and a resident of the district for a minimum of 30 days before May 21. For more information on the election, budget vote, and capital project, visit https://www.ithacacityschools.org/page/budget-vote-election.
Where do I vote?
Voting will occur at 12 locations and the location you vote at will depend on where you live and where you vote in general elections. If you are unsure where you vote in general elections, look up your voter district information on ny.gov.
If you vote at Lehman Alternative Community School (City of Ithaca, Ward 1, District 1), Tompkins Co. Public Works Facility (Town of Ithaca, District 2) or Linderman Creek Apartments (Town of Ithaca, District 10) in general elections, you will vote at Lehman Alternative Community School on 111 Chestnut Street in Ithaca for ICSD elections.
If you vote at Titus Towers (City of Ithaca, Ward 1, District 2), Southside Community Center (City of Ithaca, Ward 1, District 3), GIAC (City of Ithaca, Ward 1, District 4 and City of Ithaca, Ward 2, District 2) or Town of Ithaca Town Hall (City of Ithaca, Ward 2, District 3) in general elections, you will vote at Beverly J. Martin School on 309 W. Buffalo Street in Ithaca.
if you vote at Belle Sherman Annex (City of Ithaca, Ward 3, District 2), Alice Cook House (City of Ithaca, Ward 4, Districts 1 and 3 and City of Ithaca, Ward 5, District 2), Bethel Grove Community Center (Town of Dryden, District 8) or Ellis Hollow Apartments (Town of Ithaca, Districts 4 and 11) in general elections, you will vote at Belle Sherman Annex on 75 Cornell Street in Ithaca.
If you vote at Brooktondale Fire Hall (Town of Caroline, Districts 1-3) or Richford Town Hall (Town of Richford, Tioga County) in general elections, you will vote at Caroline School on 2439 Slaterville Road in Slaterville.
If you vote at First Congregational Church of Ithaca (Town of Ithaca, Districts 7-9 and 13), Ithaca Reform Temple (Town of Lansing, Districts 5 and 7) or Lansing Village Hall (Town of Lansing, District 6) in general elections, you will vote at Cayuga Heights School on 110 East Upland Road in Ithaca.
If you vote at Danby Fire Station (Town of Danby, Districts 1 and 3 and Town of Candor, Tioga County) or Newfield Fire Station (Town of Newfield, District 3) in general elections, you will vote at Danby Fire Hall on 1780 Danby Road in Ithaca.
If you vote at Enfield Community Center (Town of Enfield, Districts 1-3) in general elections, you will vote at Enfield School on 20 Enfield Main Road in Ithaca.
If you vote at Town of Ithaca Town Hall (City of Ithaca, Ward 2, District 1) or Alice Cook House (City of Ithaca, Ward 4, District 2 and City of Ithaca, Ward 5, District 1) in general elections, you will vote at Fall Creek School on 202 King Street in Ithaca.
If you vote at Museum of the Earth (Town of Ithaca, District 1) or Franziska Racker Centers (Town of Ulysses, District 4) in general elections, you will vote at Franziska Racker Centers on 3226 Wilkins Road in Ithaca.
If you vote at TST BOCES (Town of Ithaca, Districts 5 and 6) or Etna Fire Station (Town of Dryden, District 5) in general elections, you will vote at Northeast School on 425 Winthrop Drive in Ithaca.
If you vote at South Hill School (City of Ithaca, Ward 3, District 1) or Alumni Hall - Ithaca College (formerly College Circle Community Center, Town of Ithaca, Districts 3 and 12) in general elections, you will vote at South Hill School on 520 Hudson Street in Ithaca.
If you vote at Varna Community Center (Town of Dryden, District 4) in general elections, you will still vote at Varna Community Center on 943 Dryden Road in Ithaca in this election.
(3) comments
Bottom line; the voting locations are public schools, the very places that are most convenient for school staff to vote "yes" to keep their jobs and the jobs of all their friends. Imagine how much higher voter turnout would be if you didn't even have to take time off work to drive to the polls, but could instead just walk down the hall past your office door and into the break room to cast your vote. That is the situation now with ICSD staff and it is a huge conflict of interest. To make matters worse the number of people on the ICSD payroll has become so high they make up a large percentage of votes cast, which makes it harder for everyone else to get enough votes to shrink their numbers. What percentage of the school budget votes are cast by ICSD employees?
The best fix for this would be school elections and budgets to be voted on in the November elections. School interest groups will prevent this from ever happening. School v=budgets seldom lose and even if they do,, boards get a second chance vote. Pretty much a shell game as almost all budgets in NY pass.
Comment from Arthur L. Berkey & Henry S. Kramer
We are writing this as two former members of the Board of Education of the Ithaca City School District re the concept of over an 8.4% increase in the tax levy. While it is good that the Board retreated from an over 12% hike, 8.4% is still way over the cap and an extraordinary added burden for District residents.
Assessments in Tompkins County have gone up an average of over 20% currently. As the County Assessor has pointed out, this is a readjustment of the assessment level of each property and does not, in itself, require taxpayers to pay any higher taxes. ICSD’s proposed budget raises the tax levy and the net tax to most individual property owners.
If the levy goes up, the property owner will incur new costs if the tax rate remains the same. The guarantee of no tax rate increase is then hollow.
ICSD would be abrogating to itself the increase in assessment for new development and for existing assessment value changes as well.
The combined tax burden on New York State residents of all federal, state, and local taxes is at the top in our nation. The US economy is not doing well and despite the economic durability of Ithaca, the cost of living here has inflated and many residents live paycheck to paycheck. Some live on fixed incomes.
During the 2001-2004 period during which we both served on the ICSD Board, we recommended that before large increases were levied ICSD should first take a good look at the operational side of its activities, sparing the direct educational aspects from cuts. ICSD should consider contracting out night janitorial work, groundskeeping, passing transportation of City middle and high school students to TCAT, contracting out food services and maintenance work, awarding that work to local tax paying businesses. ICSD should defer acquisition of problem electric buses as long as possible and use fuels that are most economical. ICSD’s mission is to be and educational leader, not necessarily an environmental one. The ICSD Board is limited to taxing only for educating our children. Environmental goals should not drive ICSD to use more expensive fuels as a District goal. The savings from operational efficiencies could be used to enhance education, support teachers, and help those involved in instruction. The number of administrators should be decreased (or at least held constant).
If the Board moves ahead as planned with an 8.4% tax levy increase to support an outsized budget, we cannot recommend in good conscience that voters approve a way over cap levy. A negative vote will not end the levy debate but return it to the Board with a message to stay within the cap.
NY law does not force a contingency budget if the initial vote defeats the proposed budget. It would return the budget to the Board which could have a second vote for a more prudent budget.
Many school elections have low turnout dominated by ICSD personnel, voters in their families, parents with children in school, and school interest groups. All registered voters in ICSD should vote in the May 21 election whether or not you have children in the schools. If you oppose this oversize budget, please get out and vote NO.
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