Superintendent Ian Neviaser answers post-result questions from ‘The Day’ reporter Kimberly Drelich.

Voters in Lyme and Old Lyme overwhelmingly approved the Regional District 18 Board of Education’s budget proposal of $32,547,409 budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016.

A total of 418 Yes votes and 106 No votes were cast in the district: in Old Lyme, 296 residents voted Yes while 87 No votes were recorded and in Lyme, there were 122 Yes votes and 19 voted against the budget.

The total number of registered voters in Old Lyme is 5,103 and so the voter turnout today represented a mere 7.5 percent of the total.

After the Moderator Larry Peterson had announced the Old Lyme results in the Cross Lane Firehouse, a delighted Region 18 Superintendent Ian Neviaser commented, “I think again we brought forward a responsible budget, which continued to support our programs.  The continued support of our voters shows how important education is to our communities.”

He also added, “Over the last three years the budget increases have averaged around 1.5 percent,” which he described as, “Highly unusual.”  Asked to explain why it has been possible to maintain such low increases, he cited the twin reasons of, “Declining enrollment coupled with strong fiscal management.”

The 2015-16 budget represents a 1.83 percent increase over the current 2014-15 budget.