[Update] Budget Passes Despite Second Lowest Voter Turnout

Despite having the second lowest voter turnout at a budget referendum – 9.97 percent – Avon's proposed 2012-13 budget passed by 385 votes.

That means the tax rate will increase by 2.45 percent to 25.65.

"It seemed to go very smoothly this year. There were very few calls and emails to the office," Town Manager Brandon Robertson said.

Out of 1,193 voters, 789 (66 percent) endorsed the $78.72 million budget and 404 (34 percent) voted no.

"I'm very pleased that voters have overwhelmingly supported the budget as recommended by the Board of Finance," Thomas Harrison, chairman of the finance board, said. "That means we did our job well."

If voter turnout hadn't breached 9 percent, the budget would have passed by default, as per the town charter.

The lowest voter turnout since Avon started having budget referendums in 1999 was 5.1 percent (534 people) in 2001.

The following list provided by Harrison represents the four other lowest voter turnouts.

• 1999: 10.1 percent, 1,016 people
• 2007: 12.6 percent, 1,400 people
• 2000: 13.4 percent, 1,353 people
• 2011: 15.5 percent, 1,868 people

Between 19 budget referendums, 23.2 percent marked the average voter turnout.

"It's nice to have the budget adopted and we can start thinking about implementation come July 1," Robertson said.

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