It's official: Bond election fails
By CHERYL ODDEN
Supporters of a bond election for Garrison school improvement and expansion projects hoped the third time would be a charm.
To their dismay, the time-worn cliché didn’t pan out.
The Nov. 4 bond election, held in conjunction with the General Election, enticed 832 voters to the City Auditorium to cast their ballots.
The unofficial results, published in last week’s (Nov. 6) Independent, showed that the bond failed by a narrow margin – 491 "yes" votes compared to 341 "no" votes. Even though the majority of voters favored the bond issue, their numbers fell short of the state requirement of more than 60 percent. Clinging to hope that enough "yes" votes would still be received from absentee ballots, board members met Monday to canvass the ballots.
During the meeting, business manager Bobbie Jo Anderson announced that two absentee ballots had arrived but only one could be opened and counted; the other was ineligible due to date of postmark.
Although the additional vote was a "yes" vote, the bond result didn’t change. The final result was 59.06 percent in favor of the proposal, a mere eight votes shy of the minimum required for passage.
With three failed bond issues, the board will be unable to bring a bond issue before the public for at least a year.
Patrons of the Garrison School District soundly defeated a $9 million bond issue two years ago. On Nov. 13, 2012. only 34.8 percent of voters favored the issue and it was defeated. More than 600 votes had been cast.
