Voters approve school budget, special question

Board incumbents ousted; Endo, Bigley, Hutner elected to three-year terms.

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   Lawrence Township voters tossed out two incumbents on the Board of Education while approving the 2005-06 budget and a special question on Tuesday.
   Deborah Endo, with 1,931 votes, Ginny Bigley, with 1,649, and Gerri Hutner, with 1,551 were elected to three, three-year terms on the school board.
   Incumbents Philip Benson and Carole Drury were defeated in their election bids with 1,072 votes and 1,272 votes, respectively.
   Kari McGann finished with 1,270 votes and William Nathan with 327 votes.
   These results are unofficial and include absentee ballots but not provisional ballots.
   The voters also approved, by a tally of 1,732 votes to 1,516 votes, the tax levy for the school district’s proposed $57.6 million operating budget for 2005-06.
   Also approved by the voters was a $2.5 million "second question" on the ballot — a one-time assessment to pay for special projects. The measure passed by 1,598 votes to 1,473 votes.
   The budget and second question vote totals do not include absentee or provisional ballots.
   For more coverage on the election results see The Ledger on Thursday.