Galloway Schools' Proposal Falls By Three Votes

Initial returns from the Tuesday, Dec. 13 vote indicated that the Galloway Township School District proposal was defeated by just three votes, 821-818. The total comes before the absentee ballots are counted and before the results are certified by the Board of Elections.

The question put before township voters concerned roof replacement at , and elementary schools, fire alarm replacement for Smithville, Roland Rogers and , and drainage system and parking lot improvements for Arthur Rann.

Residents with a home assessed at $100,000 would see a raise in taxes of $14.42 as a result of the $5.6 million proposal, and residents with a home assessed at $200,000 would see a raise in taxes of $28.84.

“The board members, Business Administrator (Tim) Kelley and myself are very disappointed by the results,” Galloway Superintendent of Schools Annette Giaquinto said. “At this point, it appears it did not pass, but the close vote indicates that a higher turnout may have helped.”

There wasn’t a whole lot more the school district could’ve done to get the word out.

“We very aggressively spread the word,” School Board President Ernest Huggard said. “We took every opportunity to spread the word with parent interaction.”

This included discussion at public board meetings, setting up a table at presentation of “White Christmas” over the weekend, posting all the details on the district website and spreading the word to all the news outlets.

“We used multiple means to get the word out,” Giaquinto said.

The vote total was extremely close, and was close at each individual polling location, nowhere closer than at the , where 89 “yes” votes were cast, compared to 84 “no” votes.

Voters at the also voted to pass the referendum, 195-147, while voters at Roland Rogers passed it 156-127.

Voters at Smithville School voted down the referendum, 265-230, while the referendum was defeated among voters at Germania Firehouse, 199-148.

“It was fairly quiet all day,” Giaquinto said. “People would ask me how the vote was going, and I wasn’t really sure.”

The result doesn’t seem any clearer now that the ballots have been counted.

“We’re eager to see the absentee votes,” Giaquinto said. “We hope it will change the outcome in our favor.”

She added that the district would consider asking for a recount if the results remain the same once the absentee ballots are counted.