Voters in both Lyme and Old Lyme today overwhelmingly approved the Lyme-Old Lyme school board’s proposed $33,470,376 budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year, which represents a 2.84 percent increase over the current 2015-16 budget. The total vote numbers across both towns were 368 supporting the budget and 184 against, representing almost exactly a 2 to 1 majority in favor of the budget.
Looking at the results by town, in Old Lyme there were 267 Yes votes to 150 No votes while in Lyme, 101 Yes and 34 No votes were recorded.
A delighted Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser commented to reporters gathered at the Cross Lane Fire House to hear the result, “We appreciate the continued support of both communities for the budget.”
Tired poll workers at Cross Lane Fire House were glad to clear away their tables at the end of the evening, with one describing it as “a painful day,” because voting had been so slow. Turnout was likely one of the lowest on record with the total number of voters in Old Lyme today representing a mere 8 percent of the 5,211 registered voters in town.