Charter defeat set to be certified

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The Saratoga County Board of Elections plans to certify the election results by next week before sending them to the state’s board for final certification.

With a vote to change the city’s charter trailing by 10 votes, it appears the city will not adopt the council-manager form of government in 2020 after all.

Earlier this week was the deadline for 18 military ballots to be returned, but the Saratoga County Board of Elections didn’t receive any.

New York State Board of Elections will certify the election results by mid December.

On election night, Nov. 7, a vote to change the city’s charter held a 48-vote advantage, but the unofficial results of the charter referendum for Saratoga Springs after a Nov. 14 absentee ballot count show 4,458 voted against the proposed charter for Saratoga Springs, while 4,448 voted to adopt the council-manager form of government.

The current charter, under the

commission form of government, has an elected mayor and four elected commissioners who serve as members of the city council and supervisors of specific departments. The proposed charter called for a council-manager form of government, which would include a seven-member council that solely acts in a legislative capacity, and an appointed city manager who would run the day-to-day operations of city hall.