Voters in the Trenton R-9 School District on Tuesday turned down a proposal that would have allowed the R-9 Board of Education to waive the district’s Proposition C Tax Rollback.
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Voters in the Trenton R-9 School District on Tuesday turned down a proposal that would have allowed the R-9 Board of Education to waive the district’s Proposition C Tax Rollback.
Just 27 percent of the registered voters in the school district voted in the special election, which saw the measure go down to defeat with 645 in favor and 697 opposed.
If approved, the district was anticipating generating around $300,000 in additional local revenues, with another $300,000-plus in state monies also possible.
Eleven precincts cast ballots in the special election, with the First Ward of Trenton Township the only precinct to give the issue positive support. Voters in the first ward favored the measure, 173-95. The issue went down to defeat in Trenton’s other three wards as well as Harrison, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, Taylor and Washington townships. Absentee voters defeated the measure, 39-44. No one voted in Liberty Township, which had 10 eligible voters.
R-9 Superintendent Craig Noah said that while the board of education is disappointed in the outcome, members can begin to plan for next year, which he said will mean finding areas in which cuts can made because of anticipated decreases in state aid.
“Certainly we are disappointed as we saw this as an investment in the kids and in the community,” Noah said. “I understand that people don’t want to pay more taxes, but this was something that we could do locally to generate more money since we’re not sure how withholdings are going to affect us next year.”
Noah said that all programs will be on the table as the board makes decisions about next year. The board will meet on Tuesday night, but the discussion about the issue is expected to be minimal as school officials will be working on their plan of action for 2004-2005.
“We’ll talk about the election results, but it won’t be until the December board meeting that we will really begin to discuss and make some decisions,” Noah said.
The R-9 superintendent said he will be meeting with administrators and others within the district to discuss a “skeleton schedule” for next year, which would then come to the board for discussion and be used to make final decisions. Noah said he hopes to have that ready by Nov. 14 for presentation at the December board meeting.
“We’ll be working with the department heads and administrators to come up with a schedule for next year for the board to look at,” Noah said. “I would encourage members of the public to come to the board meeting and listen to the discussion. Then if they hear something they would like to address, they could do so in January.”
Noah was quick to point out the final decisions would not be made in December, although he anticipates those involving the 2004-2005 school year would be made as of the March board meeting.
“We want to have all personnel decisions made and finalized after the March board meeting,” Noah said.
To address the board, patrons are reminded of the district policy that requires persons to request getting on the board agenda at least six days prior to the meeting date. Persons wanting to address the board can come to the district office and fill out a form, which state the person’s name and the subject on which he or she wishes to comment.
Noah noted that the policy requiring the six-day notification is done as a Sunshine Law issue, noting that some discussions can lead to areas involving personnel or legal issues that should be discussed in closed session.
“Having the policy that requires persons to make their request ahead of time instead of just getting up at a meeting to speak heads off any problems in those areas,” Noah said.
The R-9 superintendent said he wanted to thank those individuals who served on the Prop C Committee, working to get the issue passed.
“They spent a lot of their own personal time getting information out there to people and I want to thank them for their effort,” he said.