Residents in the Minisink Valley School District— the only school district in Orange County, New York, without a public library—voted down a new library budget by a five-to-one margin.
The library referendum, which took place on Oct. 18, drew about 2,500 people, a turnout of around 16 percent among total registered voters, according to a school district spokesperson.
The turnout is 60 percent more than that of the school budget vote in May.
“It shows the true intentions of the community. People are struggling to put food on the table, and doing a tax increase just wasn’t going to be right—I also don’t think they felt there was a need for it,” Town of Mount Hope Councilman Christopher Furman told The Epoch Times on Oct. 19….