OCM BOCES to hold building purchase referendum Jan. 23

Because Marcellus is one of the 23 component school districts that make up the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison Board of Cooperative Educational Services (OCM BOCES), district residents are entitled to cast a vote in an upcoming election on a proposed building purchase.

OCM BOCES is the seventh largest of New York state’s 37 BOCES and offers programs in career and technical education, special education, alternative education and workforce preparation for adults. The cooperative also provides instructional support and administrative services.

The proposal that voters will consider – between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Jan. 23 – is the purchase and renovation of the former Nationwide Insurance building at 110 Elwood Davis Road in the town of Salina. If purchased and renovated (at a cost not to exceed $5.9 million), the building would allow the OCM BOCES to relocate several programs now housed in leased space (including the Kasson Road School facility that OCM BOCES rents annually from the Marcellus Central School District).


With the money saved in annual lease payments, OCM BOCES would be able to pay the estimated $410,100 annual debt payments on the building loan, meaning no increased cost to taxpayers.

Residents can vote at one of three available polling sites:

• Lee G. Peters Career Training Center, 4500 Crown Road, Liverpool;
• Henry Campus Administration Building, 6820 Thompson Road, Syracuse; and
• McEvoy Education Campus, 1710 state Route 13, Cortland.

Eligible voters must be U.S. citizens, age 18 and older, who have resided within the OCM BOCES region at least 30 days prior to the vote.

Click here to download an application for an absentee ballot. 

Click on the image to view the building
purchase referendum fact sheet (PDF).