Early Middlebury Voting Slow on Rainy Wednesday

Update: 12:45 p.m. Wednesday

Middlebury residents and property owners, voting for the municipal and Region 15 budgets on the same day for the first time, were a bit slow to turnout Wednesday morning, with 357 ballots cast as of noon.

Midday turnout represents just over 6 percent of Middlebury’s 5,800 registered voters. At the end of last year’s balloting, 493 residents had voted in the municipal budget referendum (9.8 percent) and 953 Middlebury residents had voted in the Region 15 referendum (18.6 percent).

“It’s been a little bit slower than we’d like,” poll moderator Marilee Dabkowski said Wednesday, though she expected it to pickup later in the day.

Polls will be open until 8 p.m. in the basement of the Shepardson Community Building.

Check back with Woodbury-Middlebury Patch tonight as the results come in.  Be sure to sign up for the Woodbury-Middlebury Patch breaking news and daily newsletter, "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to receive updates on this article and others.

Original Story

Middlebury registered voters and property owners head to the polls Wednesday to vote on both the annual Municipal Budget and the Region 15 Education Budget.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Shepardson Community Center.

In order to streamline the annual voting process, the town recently merged the municipal and education votes into the same day, putting two questions on the ballot but reducing cost and increasing overall ease for voters.

The school budget, a $61.95 million proposal, is a 2.82 percent increase from the previous year and the first budget increase in Region 15 in three years. The region has had a flat increase the past two years, and proposals of $60,251,578 have passed referendum with ease twice.

This year’s school budget is designed to address declining enrollment, full day kindergarten, school security, information technology, and to prepare the district for Common Core State Standards and Smarter Balanced Assessments, according Region 15 Superintendent Dr. Frank Sippy.

"This budget will enable us to continue our work on behalf of children," said Sippy.

The town budget, a $10 million proposal, is a 5.5 percent increase over the 2012-13 $9.53 million appropriation, with the largest increases in the Employee Benefits ($161,050) and Capital Budget ($350,138) lines.

The referendum will ask voters the following two questions, according to the registrar’s office:

QUESTION 1 - “Shall the 2013-2014 proposed Town of Middlebury Municipal Budget in the amount of $10,052,636 be approved?”

QUESTION 2 - “Shall the proposed 2013-2014 Budget of the Pomperaug Regional School District #15 in the amount of $61,952,264 be adopted?”