UPDATE: Voter Turnout Half Previous Year at Midday

6 p.m., May 15, 2012: An update from the New Rochelle School District at 3 p.m. gave the total number of votes cast at roughly half the number at the same time in 2011. Poll workers at Trinity Elementary on Pelham Road said only 91 people had voted by 5:30 p.m., though they were expecting the number of people wanting to vote to increase as people get back to New Rochelle from work.

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1:50 p.m., May 15, 2012: Voters were showing up at Isaac E. Young Middle School slowly, but steadily Tuesday afternoon. Poll workers said they thought the rain was keeping people away, but expect voting to pick up after work.

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New Rochelle voters have until 9 p.m. to decide whether they approve of the budgets put forth for the school district and the library.

There are 13 polling places; they can be found on Page iii of the attached Street Directory Guide provided by the New Rochelle School District. Polling places can be verified in the guide, on the school newsletter that was mailed to New Rochelle residents last week or by call the district offices of the Board of Education at 914-576-4219.

The budget the school board approved and sent for voter approval is $234,174,978, up 1.43 percent over last year's adopted budget of $230,872,398.

The amount of taxes the school district has to raise in order to pay for the spending—the tax levy—is $185,766,917, which is a 2.13 percent increase over the 2011-12 tax levy of $181,889,144.

For more, see this article.

The New Rochelle Public Library has its budget on the ballot as well. The board of directors are looking for approval of a budget that it slightly less than the current one. The $4,468,996 proposed spending package for 2012-13 is down 0.11 percent—or $4,728—from the 2011-12 budget. More information on the library budget can be found here.

Both the board of education and library board of trustees have two open seats that will be on the ballot. Incumbents Chrisanne Petrone and David Lacher are running unopposed for the school board, as are incumbents Haina Just-Michael and Bernardo Nunez for the library board.