Despite a strong undercurrent of taxpayer anger this year, residents turned out in large numbers to pass every school budget but one in Erie and

Niagara counties Tuesday, according to unofficial results.

The only budget to fail was in Lockport.

In more than half the districts in the two counties, the voter turnout was up by at least

50 percent from last year.

Statewide, 92 percent of district budgets were approved, a higher level than what many

state officials, including Gov. David Paterson, were suggesting would be the results in a year

of supposed voter anger.

"Clearly, the voters are supporting schools," said David Albert, a spokesman for the New

York State School Boards Association, which found that 621 of 675 districts saw their budget

plans approved by voters on Tuesday.

Albert said the 92 percent passage rate is the same level by which school budgets have been

approved on average over the previous five years.

Teacher unions filled the airwaves with last-minute ads urging people to approve the

budgets. And the annual slate of chicken barbecues, school art shows and concerts in many

districts helped draw a steady stream of parents and other school supporters.

Debbie Skok, a mother of four in the Maryvale district, showed up to vote Tuesday and to

hear one of her children sing in a school concert. The tax increase would present a challenge

for their family, she said, since her husband is the only one in their household working now.

But she had no qualms voting to approve the budget.

"It's for the kids' education," she said.

Other residents also said they were willing to swallow a tax increase to help the schools.

Al Maser, a laboratory technician at Buffalo General Hospital whose son is grown, said he

wasn't thrilled about the proposed 8 percent tax increase in his district — but felt it

was reasonable, under the circumstances.

"Nobody likes to see tax increases. But it's an inevitable part of life these days," the

Sweet Home resident said. "We have to keep the schools operating."

Voters even approved the Maryvale budget, which carried the highest tax increase in Erie

County, at more than 11 percent.

A number of Maryvale residents said they were casting ballots on a school budget for the

first time in their lives.

Marjorie Koller, an office branch administrator, seemed to echo the sentiments of many of

those first-time voters. She is 67 but has never voted on a school budget — until this

year. The budget and its corresponding tax increase, she said, were "an abomination."

"I was mad enough this year to come out and vote against it. I don't know if it'll make a

difference, but if enough people like me got off their complacency to vote, maybe it will,"

she said.

While Maryvale voters did not defeat the budget, they did oust incumbent Nicholas

Giammarise. Instead, they voted in 18-year-old Patrick Weisansal, a high school senior who

plans to study at Trocaire College in the fall.

He said that it's time the district had a student's perspective on the board and vowed to

ask the administration hard questions.

"[The board members] all sit around at board meetings with their feet up," he said. "That's

not how I am."

Go here for a full list of budgets vote results.

Incumbents in a number of other districts, including Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda and Grand

Island, were also soundly defeated.

Many voters throughout the region said they plan to vote out the incumbents in November's

general election, too.

Phyl Osika, a 69-year-old retiree in Maryvale, said it's time for change.

"I'm starting to vote all the incumbents out because I'm unhappy with everybody," she said.

"Just look at the economy. Look what's going on in Albany. We need some new blood these days."

The average budget increase in Erie County was just over 1 percent, compared with the

current year's spending; in Niagara County, spending actually dropped by an average of 1.4

percent.

But in many districts, spending cuts — even when paired with hefty draws from

districts' reserve funds — still could not stave off substantial increases in the tax

levy, due to huge cuts in state aid.

In Cattaraugus County, Allegany-Limestone's budget was defeated.

In Chautauqua County, three budgets were defeated: Jamestown, Brocton and Fredonia.

The turnout was more than five times higher this year in Jamestown, where voters defeated

the budget by a ratio of 2-to-1, despite an 8 percent decrease in spending.

"We have a financially challenged economy, both in the state and definitely in Jamestown,"

Superintendent Daniel Kathman said. "Citizens here and everywhere in New York have one

opportunity to participate directly in budget decisions. With the school budget, they have a

voice. The frustration that's been pent up has been expressed in our vote."

Residents in Fredonia and Brocton turned out in large numbers to defeat their budgets, the

apparent result of lingering hard feelings. Voters recently rejected a proposal to merge the

two districts.

Tuesday, discontent apparently spilled over to the budgets, which were soundly defeated,

despite a proposed 2.6 percent decrease in spending in Brocton and a decrease of less than 1

percent in Fredonia.

Voting results in all the districts are unofficial and will not be certified for several

days.

If a school budget is defeated, a district has two choices: hold a second vote on the

third Tuesday in June — offering voters either the same budget or a revised one —

or proceed to a contingency budget. If a second vote is held and that budget is defeated, the

contingency budget automatically takes effect.

Spending rate increases for contingency budgets are dictated by state law and based on an

inflation rate; this year, districts going the contingency route would have to adopt a plan

with no spending increase. Certain items, such as equipment and new programs, are not included

in a contingency budget, under state rules.