Voters opposelevy, bond 60-40 

By Joanna Miller

Staff Writer

 Voters turned out to the polls in opposition of the proposed levy and bond referendum for the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District on Election Day.Sixty percent of voters cast “no” votes for the proposed $590 per-student tax-levy increase. More than 61 percent of voters also voted against the linked question on the ballot, which asked for bond funding to build a Prior Lake High School addition.

Superintendent Tom Westerhaus made a single statement regarding election outcomes Wednesday: “I’m deeply saddened for this community, especially for its children,” Westerhaus said.

Westerhaus had no comment regarding how the district will proceed with the process of identifying budget cuts the School Board has stated will be required with a failed levy and bond referendum.

Board Chairman Michael Murray said he thinks the results reflected “bigger issues going on economically and financially.”Murray said he respects that it’s hard to go to taxpayers and ask them to pay more.“It’s not easy for any of us to do that,” Murray said.Murray said he’d also heard feedback that there were many voters who didn’t have students in the district and didn’t want taxes raised.“We do have the two levies on the books for one more year,” he said. “If we don’t get these restored [next year], that’s a lot of dollars the district will be losing.”

Murray said the board has pledged to continue working with legislators at the state level to address education funding. The board has extended an invitation to area representatives to discuss local issues.

The board has explained that without funds from an increased levy, Redtail Ridge Elementary in Savage will not open as scheduled.

Other impacts the board has noted include not hiring additional teachers to decrease and/or maintain class sizes to meet an anticipated 3-percent growth of the student body.

Prior Lake High School Principal Dave Lund said at the high school, staff will continue with the mission of educating students.

“Now is when we’ll begin to set a course of action for the incoming students,” Lund said.

While major decisions are made at the district level, Lund said at the high school, he knows the “no” vote will mean larger class sizes and counting on teachers and employees to meet new challenges.

Currently, the building houses about 2,020 students and class sizes hover at 32 to 34 students in some sections.

“We’re doing what we did yesterday today; we’re continuing to educate students,” Lund said.

Citizens for Accountable Government (CAG), which became a unified organization against the proposed referendum, plans to continue its work.

CAG Chairman Dave Thompson said he feels the voter turnout reflects voters’ concern for fiscal responsibility from leaders.

“We clearly think 40-percent voter turnout in a non-presidential year is historic in Prior Lake,” Thompson said. “The voters were concerned about the fiscal impact.”

Thompson said he thinks the fact that voters chose to re-elect two incumbent School Board candidates but vote against the levy and bond referendum shows a concern for finances.

“They like the leadership but don’t like where they were leading us,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he hopes the board members will sit down and sharpen their pencils to come up with a more reasonable levy request for next year.

The Stand By Me committee, which headed up a campaign to support the referendum, reflected disappointment in the wake of Tuesday’s vote.

Chairman Steve Sammis said he was surprised to see the referendum fail.

“I thought it would be close,” Sammis said. “I did not expect it to go 40-60.”

Sammis said the organization will regroup and refocus.

“A lot will depend on where the district goes now,” Sammis said.

Sammis said Stand By Me members hope to team with those who did not support the levy and bond referendum to address needs for students.

“I honestly respect everyone’s opinion on this issue. The needs of this district are still there and very real,” Sammis said. “They are not going to go away.”

Across Scott County, there was a 25-percent voter turnout for the election, with 14,848 ballots cast out of 58,931 registered voters.

District 719 had 11,209 voters show up at the polls out of 28,087 registered voters, equaling about a 40-percent turnout.

Votes against the levy tallied at 5,434, with 3,609 people voting in favor of increased funding. In the linked bond question, 5,611 people voted against funding the high school addition, and 3,447 people voted in favor of it.

 Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com [2].