The Village of Saugerties election is on March 16, and the names of Mayor Bill Murphy and Trustees Brian Martin, Jeff Helmuth and Jeannine Mayer, whose terms will expire this year, will be on the ballot.
There’s still time for competition. Village residents interested in running for office should get a petition from Lisa Mayone, the village clerk, and return it with 50 signatures by February 9.
Polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. at the Village Hall on Partition Street.
At the village board meeting on January 4, the board set the date and time of the election. In a second resolution, the board approved Marilyn Daley, Lee Quirk, Arlene Discordia and Suzanne LeBlanc as election inspectors. Each inspector is to receive compensation of $150 per day.
Trustee Terry Parisian had heard that New Paltz was changing its village election day to the November general election day; he wondered whether Saugerties might want to do the same. “I think Ellenville did it a couple of years back – many years back,” he said. “Have we considered changing it to the November date and save some money?”
Mayor Bill Murphy said he believed the village had looked into the matter last year, and was told it could not. Trustee Jeannine Mayer said she recalled the same thing.
“I was just thinking of saving money. But nobody thinks about the school budget or the village election. November is the time for elections,” Parisian said.
New Paltz Mayor Tim Rogers confirmed that the village would be changing the date for its elections inoder to coincide with the federal and state elections in November. Years ago, that village moved the date from March, which coincided with SUNY’s spring break, to May so that college students could vote.
This newest change would include the New Paltz village election in early voting in the state, which a village would not be able to afford to do on its own. A village election in November would bring out more voters. Village elections alone don’t draw a large turnout, Rogers said. The Village of New Paltz must hold two referenda as part of the process for making the change.
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