Tuesday’s elections include critically important statewide ballot propositions surrounding debt for small city school districts and funding for sewer projects as other local elections serve as a test to how voters react to the ongoing migrant crisis.
The first of two ballot proposals asks voters to consider raising the amount of debt small city school districts can take on from 5 percent to 10 percent. This would impact schools in cities with less than 125,000 people like Albany, New Rochelle and White Plains.
“That’s not fair. If these districts cannot actually do business, or renovate, preserve or maintain their buildings and other things in their districts it’s students who suffer the most,” Marina Marcou-O’Malley, Director of Policy at the Alliance for a Quality education said.
Advocates say the current cap is antiquated and doesn’t allow schools to respond to major problems, especially when it comes to fixing aging buildings and other issues that could directly impact students’ health and safety.
Voters will also, once again, consider a proposal excluding sewer projects from the cap on debt that municipalities are able to incur.
Municipalities are currently prohibited from taking on debt of more than around 10 percent of debt based on their total taxable property. The proposition would allow those towns, villages and cities to hold debt on projects related to sewer infrastructure without it contributing to that debt cap.
The proposition on this year’s ballot isn’t new as it has to be renewed every 10 years.
Aside from the ballot propositions and some regional judicial elections, this year’s races are local. Outside New York City, where voters are picking new city councilmembers, most races are far less dramatic. The more heated local contests, like the race for Erie County Executive, may offer some clues to have voters react to issues like the ongoing surge in migrants coming to New York.
Despite a significant enrollment advantage, incumbent Democrat County Executive Mark Poloncarz is fighting a wave of criticism related to his decision to welcome migrants from New York City into the county.
His Republican challenger, Chrissy Casilio, has been hammering him on the migrants, especially after one asylum seeker, 26-year-old Jesus Guzman-Bermudez, was charged with raping a woman in front of a 3-year-old at a the hotel they were relocated to in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga.
“I’ll send the crisis back to New York City,” Casilio says in an attack ad smearing Poloncarz.
Casilio and Republicans hope to leverage furor over the migrants with what is expected to be a relatively low turnout year to ambush Poloncarz at the polls.
“Republicans are counting on this issue to motivate their base to get to the polls. Incumbent Mark Poloncarz is a heavy favorite but high suburban turnout coupled with lower than anticipated turnout in the City of Buffalo would make this a much closer race.” Jack O’Donnell, a Buffalo-based political strategist, told the Post.
In a Siena College Poll conducted last month, 94 percent of Republicans surveyed said they believed the migrant crisis was a “somewhat serious” or “very serious” issue. That’s compared with 84 percent of voters overall.