Guilford Budget, Bonding Projects Pass at Referendum

Guilford residents took to the polls Tuesday to vote on six items including the town and school budget and bonding projects (see attached ballots for voting questions). The budget passed with about 1405, or 60%, of voters in favor and 940, or 40%, against. 

All five polling stations were open for most of Tuesday, and a little after 8 PM, results from Tuesday's referendum started to pour into Guilford Town Hall. Absentee ballots returned appeared to be in support of the budget overall, and as district votes came in over the next 30 minutes, we learned that all six items on the voting budget were passed. 

"We are extremely grateful to the town of Guilford for passing this budget and bonding projects," said First Selectman Joe Mazza told Guilford Patch after hearing the news. "We appreciate the confidence and support of voters in this 2013-2014 fiscal year budget."

2009 was the last year in Guilford's history that the budget did not pass and was moved to a second referendum.

Turnout for voting was very low according to First Selectman Mazza, with 14.9% of residents turning out to vote Tuesday. This is about 1% lower than the turnout for last year's voting.

"The Board of Selectman, Board of Finance, Board of Education, and other boards and town representatives did as much as we could to spread the word about the budget," Mazza explained. 

Both Mazza and Board of Education Director Bill Bloss were pleased with the passing of the bonding projects. 

"We're excited the bonding projects passed," said Bloss. "This will help us to keep moving forward in our work on improving our special education programs, our alternative high school, and help us with common core state standards."

"This is not a 'stay still budget,'" added Matthew Hoey, Chair of the town's Board of Finance. "This is a year of investment, a year of investing in our future."

Stay tuned for Guilford Patch for more details on how your district voted and more!