Chenango Forks-Chenango Valley Merger Proposal Advances

Both school boards in the Chenango Forks and Chenango Valley school districts have approved moving the idea of merging the two districts ahead to a public straw vote.

The residents in the districts will weigh in December 3rd.

If supported in both districts in the straw vote, a merger referendum would be placed on the ballot for a statutory vote early next year.

Chenango Valley's school board voted unanimously, 9-0, to go to the straw vote.

The Chenango Forks resolution barely passed with a 3-2 vote in favor of putting the merger plan in front of voters.

Finances took center stage in the CF discussions, from the size of an expected tax increase for residents in a merged district to the amount of aid from New York State a combined district would get after the first year, information that was not included in a six-month long state-funded study.