In the end, voters in the New Paltz Central School District (NPCSD) were overwhelmingly in favor of a capital improvement proposal comprising what Superintendent Stephen Gratto earlier this month described as “must-have items,” but were less convinced by two other propositions.
Proposition #1 passed by a margin of 1,798-1,128. The plan covers districtwide upgrades to LED lighting to boost energy efficiency, replace windows and doors at New Paltz High School and Lenape Elementary School, improve the roofs at Lenape and the district bus garage, install new home bleachers at NPHS to meet current manufacturing standards, convert unused locker room showers, upgrade out-of-date boilers. Other improvements include a new water storage tank at Lenape, grease trap replacement at Lenape and Duzine elementary schools ,restroom renovations and exterior stair repairs at New Paltz Middle School and science lab and ceiling tile upgrades at NPHS.
Proposition #1 comes in at $17,130,073, rising to $22,950,601 including principal and interest on a 14-year bond at approximately 3.50 percent. 97 percent of everything in Proposition #1 can be covered by state aid, and with the current reimbursement formula for the district, that amounts to an estimated $13,781,765. According to the district, the total cost to taxpayers on the first proposal is $9,168,836, a 1.16 percent tax levy increase.
Proposition #2, which included turf and track replacement at Floyd Patterson Athletic Field and other associated improvements, along with audio-video upgrades, and installation of air-conditioning to large group spaces like auditoriums, fell by a margin of 1,036-1,861.
Proposition #3, which was primarily comprised of a new aquatics center at NPHS, failed by a margin of 409-2,476.
After the votes were counted on Thursday night, Gratto said he was happy with the high voter turnout and grateful to everyone who participated.
“I’m very pleased that the Democratic process worked exactly the way it should,” he said. “People had choices to make, and they had all the information they needed, and they made their choices and I’m pleased by that.”
While the second and third propositions didn’t pass, Gratto said the district would begin looking to get state approval for their Proposition #1 project almost immediately.
“A lot of people have asked why we had the vote in January,” he said. “The answer was we were told that if we could buy the architecture if we could get the vote completed by February, we’d be able to break ground in the summer 2026. So we anticipate breaking ground in summer 2026 and we’re looking forward to it.”
As for the items in the other two propositions, could the Board of Education look to revisit elements of either for a future capital project? That hasn’t been discussed at school board meetings, and on Thursday Gratto said it was too soon to know what trustees might decide.
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