School issues rejected at R’dale and Ada

Voters in the Riverdale and Ada school district turned down requests to increase their income tax rates in Tuesday’s election.
At Riverdale, a .50 percent increase was rejected for the third time. It would have been collected for three years to cover operating expenses.
The increase failed at the polls in Hardin and Wyandot counties and only passed by a single vote in Hancock County. The three-county total showed it failing  939 to 1,176.
In Hardin County, results showed 312 were in favor of the increase, while 391 rejected it. Wyandot County voters opposed the increase by a vote of 193-352. Hancock County voters passed the tax raise by 434-433.
Superintendent Eric Hoffman said the board of education will be studying the finances to determine what it will do in the spring primary election. The hard decisions have been made, said Hoffman. The board has already cut $1 million in it’s budget.
“It’s going to be tough to cut much more,” he said when the results came in Tuesday night. “But we will still have school tomorrow. We will look at things in the spring and see where we are and just keep going.”
In Ada, a request for a 1.25 percent income tax was defeated with 692 in favor and 976 against.
The issue sought to create a new .50 percent income tax and renew the existing .75 percent tax which expires in 2012.
“Obviously we’re disappointed, but we’re going to move forward,” said Ada Schools Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Darmer. “The next step will be for the board to have discussions about our future at the November board meeting.”
Ada school district voters also narrowly rejected a new one-mill tax for the Ada Public Library. The vote was 829 in favor and 838 against. In Hardin County the issue only lost by two votes, but that margin grew with the addition of Hancock County votes.
In other issues:
– Mount Victory voters rejected a .50 percent income tax. The vote was 69 for and 132 against.
– Cessna Township voters renewed two taxes. A one-mill levy that provides for cemetery expenses was approved 128-74. A second ballot one-mill issue for fire protection passed 146-59. Each will be collected for five years.
– The Ada Liberty War Memorial Park District received voter support for renewals of a one-mill levy and 1.5-mill levy, both to be collected for five years. The one-mill request passed 905-648 while the 1.5-mill issue was approved 854-706.
– The Northern Hardin County Fire District’s request for an additional three mills on a continuing levy was defeated 319-411.
– Kenton votes approved electric and natural gas aggregation issues. The electric issue passed 1,119-774 and the natural gas vote was 1,129-754.
– Electric aggregation issues also were approved in Buck Township (182-109), Cessna (113-77), Goshen (158-89), Hale (242-203) and Lynn (154-81). It was defeated in Blanchard Township (197-201).

By the Times staff

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Posted by Kenton Times on November 9, 2011. Filed under Election,Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry