Voters Pass School Budgets

Both the Warren Township schools and the Watchung Hills Regional High School budgets easily passed in Wednesday's voting.

With all voting districts counted, the school budget proposals for Warren Township schools and the Watchung Hills Regional High School were passed by voters. The high school budget also passed in Watchung and Long Hill townships.

The final unofficial tally, not including absentee ballots, is 1,115 for the township budget, 691 against. The WHRHS budget passed in Warren by a vote of 1,170 for and 645 against.

Incumbent board member Mildred Spiller lead the candidates for board seats with 1,091 votes received. Christina "Tia" Allocco received 1,067 votes, and John De Bellis picked up 1054. There were 22 write-in votes. The tally reflects a 16.64 percent turnout of Warren's 10,494 registered voters.

The final tally for the Watching Hills Regiponal School budget was 1,924 yes and 1,347 no. Board incumbents Robert Horowitz, of Warren, and Sondra Fechtner, of Watchung, picked up 1,064 and 433 votes, respectively. In Long Hill, Lisa Dimizio won election to the WHRHS with 494 votes to Robert Lavorerio's 287.

"We are extremely thankful for the support of our communities," Watchung Hills Superintendent Frances Stromsland said.

Update 9:36 p.m.: District 9 adds 56 yes votes for the township budget, 44 against; 54 for the WHRHS budget, and 41 against.

Update 9:32 p.m.: Districts 2 and 4 vote 195 in favor of the township budget, 126 against; 178 in favor of high school budget and 123 against.

Update 9:30 p.m.: Districts 7 and 8 vote 156 in favor of the township budget, 109 against; 141 in favor of the high school district budget, 109 against.

Update 9:20 p.m.: Township board Business Administrator Peter Daquila called in results from the Warren Library, with 159 votes in support of the township budget and 89 voting no; 150 voting in support of the WHRHS budget and 81 voting no.

Districts 6 and 10 voted 137 yes on the township budget and 107 no; 136 "yes" for the high school budget and 104 "no."

Update 4 p.m.: Poll workers reported a steady stream of voters throughout the day, despite the unusual day of the week for voting, and the occasional rain outside.

None would speculate on the turnout, however, noting that with the newly combined districts, it's hard to guage the actual turnout.

Meanwhile, board members continued efforts to get people to vote. WHRHS Board Vice-President Peter Fallon sent an email blast to people he knows in Warren urging support for the budget, laying out his arguments in support of it.

Voting at Warren polling locations has been brisk this morning, as voters weigh in on budget proposals for both the township schools and the high school district.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. and will remain open until 9 p.m. Warren Patch will be updating throughout the day and will report the unofficial results as soon as polls close.

At stake are the districts' budget proposals (for a look at the Warren Township school district budget proposal, click here; for the Watchung Hills Regional budget, click here), both of which were defeated last year. School officials hope to avoid a repeated loss at the polls.

Voter are also filling three, three-year terms on the Warren Township Board of Education, and one Warren seat on the regional high school board. Incumbent Robert Horowitz is the lone candidate for the high school seat, while incumbent Mildred Spiller, and newcomers Tia Alocco and John De Bellis, are running to fill the township seats.

Warren Township Superintendent of Schools Tami Crader reiterated her belief in the budget she calls "responsible and responsive," and noted school officials, board members and the school PTOs had done everything they could to inform voters about the budget.

"I'm optimistic the budget will pass, but it's hard not to look over my shoulder," she said. Regardless of the outcome, Dr. Crader vowed to effectively "deal with whatever happens," and to maintain the quality of education for which the district is known.  

Voters who haven't voted yet may want to check here for  list of the updated polling locations, some of which have changed.