Bethany Bump is reporting in the Times Union residents statewide go the polls Tue., May 16, to vote on school district budgets for the 2017-18 school year and to elect members of local school boards. Although school budgets have a significant impact on a property owner's tax bill, turnout is typically low for these votes. In the Capital Region, districts are proposing an average 1.7 percent increase to the local tax levy. In Columbia and Greene counties, the average increase is slightly lower, at 1.6 percent. The tax fluctuations vary from a 2.91 percent levy increase in the Hudson City School District, to a 1.18 percent cut in the New Lebanon Central School District. In the Capital Region, four districts are proposing tax cuts, from 11 percent in the Rensselaer city district, to a .5 [point five] percent decrease in the Berne Knox-Westerlo district. In the four-county area that makes up the Capital Region, 35 out of 41 districts want to raise taxes. Locally, there are contested board races in the Catskill, Hunter-Tannersville, Ichabod Crane and Taconic Hills districts. The Cairo-Durham, Germantown and New Lebanon board elections have more open seats than candidates, guaranteeing a write-in contender win. Most polls are open from noon to 9 p.m. Read the full story in the Times Union.