George Borrello
State Senator George Borrello is looking for clarification on the state’s electric bus mandate after voters defeated a proposal in the Bemus Point School District.
Borrello wrote a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul following the defeat of an electric bus proposal by voters in Bemus Point, urging her to clarify how the state plans to address the public resistance schools are encountering.
The letter said in part, “It is clear that everyday New Yorkers being asked to vote on electric bus proposals are using something that is in short supply in Albany: common sense. They see the exorbitant costs of these buses and no funding plan to pay for them after start-up grants run out. They consider their limited traveling distance and cold weather vulnerability and wonder how long rural routes and field trips will be managed. And then they come to the logical conclusion that this mandate shouldn’t move forward now.”
Borrello countered the claims that poor communication and outreach led to the defeat of the proposal, saying, “They (Bemus Point Central School) hosted three, well-publicized information sessions, offered bus walk-throughs, saturated their social media channels and website with proposal information and had a feature on a Buffalo news channel, all aimed at educating voters about the issue and the already-secured financial incentives that would cover the costs.”
Superintendent Joseph Reyda said based on feedback from poll workers and school employees, “…the majority of community members who voted were simply not in favor of electric school buses. It didn’t matter how much the district received in financial incentives; they did not support the political process that put this mandate into place. They firmly believed that a ‘no’ vote would stop the process to transition to electric school buses.”
Other school districts where residents voted down electric bus proposals include districts in Baldwinsville, Cortland, Ithaca, Newfield, Mexico, and most recently, Herkimer. Senator Borrello noted that in Baldwinsville, the proposition to purchase diesel school buses passed easily while the electric bus proposal was voted down by 2 to 1.
Borrello asked the question of where the state goes from here. He, himself, has proposed legislation that would put a pilot program in place to allow districts to test how electric buses perform.
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