April 08, 2008 11:33 pm
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By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
Two tightly contested bond issues produced different results Tuesday for the Pittsburg School District in Kansas and Jasper R-5 School District in Missouri.
Voters in Pittsburg approved a $6.1 million bond issue that will add classrooms for all-day kindergarten, while the Jasper proposal did not receive the necessary four-sevenths majority to pass a $4.7 million construction bond issue.
The final tally on Pittsburg’s bond issue was 932 for and 829 against, with all five polling places reporting. A simple majority was needed for passage.
In Jasper, the issue received 342 votes in favor to 292 votes against, the equivalent of 53.9 percent. It needed 57.1 percent.
“When I got the advance numbers, it gave me a little bit of a shock,” said Pittsburg Superintendent Gary Price. “We’re still happy with that outcome.”
The bond issue will add 25 new classrooms: eight at Lakeside, six each at Westside and George Nettels, and five at Meadowlark.
Don Pyle, Crawford County clerk, said the 13 percent voter turnout in the Pittsburg district was slightly above average for a single-ballot issue.
The current levy for the district is 51.376 mills. The school board is promising to keep the levy at that level by lowering its capital-outlay levy during each of the next five years.
The bond issue would cover about 77 percent of the total construction costs, with the remaining 23 percent coming from state aid for “at-risk” children.
The term of the Pittsburg bond issue is 15 years.
The Jasper measure was meant to address safety concerns for elementary and high-school students who now must go outside to reach the cafeteria, gymnasiums, music rooms and classrooms housed in trailers.
“This was not a ‘wants’ bond issue,” said R-5 board president Tim Atnip. “This was a ‘needs’ bond issue. I don’t know where we’ll go from here, but we’ll continue to have school in Jasper.”
Atnip said he suspected that the cost to taxpayers — nearly a $1 increase in the levy per $100 of assessed valuation, turned off the voters.
The district’s current levy, $3.21 per $100 assessed valuation, translates to taxes of $609.90 on a home valued at $100,000.
If voters had approved the bond issue, taxes on a $100,000 property would have increased by $186 annually.
The measure actually received the necessary support to carry in Jasper County, with 306 votes in favor to 227 opposed, but was defeated when the votes from the Barton County portion of the district — 65 against to 36 for — were added.
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