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Just over 3,000 votes were cast tonight -- 1,966 yes votes and 1,050 no votes. Had this been a month ago, the original budget would have passed the 60 percent supermajority needed to surpass the property tax cap.

Passing the $113.9 million budget means that the city can avoid the dreaded contingency plan, which Hochreiter says would have taken the district to bare bones. 120 staff members will still be laid off, and there's still significant program reductions, but overall, even with elementary schools consolidating, Hochreiter says he has a positive outlook.

"We're right back at it," said Hochreiter. "We have students taking exams, we have graduation weekend, so there's a lot to be excited for. At the same time, we have teachers packing up and moving schools, and we have some folks who are turning a page, different chapter of their career and certainly we feel for them and thank them for their service."

Tomorrow night the Board of Education will formally accept the budget and certify the vote. Then July 1st they'll have their funding structure for the next fiscal year and hit the ground running.