Piper school bond issue defeated

by Mary Rupert

The Piper School District bond issue was defeated today, 1,805 to 1,454.

Piper voters were asked to approve a maximum $67.5 million bond issue that would have included a new high school and renovations to the other schools. The “nos” had 55 percent of the vote.

Election Commissioner Bruce Newby said the mail-in election had “a decent turnout.”

He said ballots were mailed to 6,936 active registered voters in this election, and the ballots that were returned totaled 3,260, representing a 47 percent turnout.

When inactive voters are included in the totals, the turnout becomes 34.5 percent, he added.

About a year ago, Piper district voters approved an increase in the local option budget at an election held at the polls June 3, 2014, he said. There was less than 10 percent voter participation in that election, he added.

Piper Superintendent Tim Conrad said today that he was “disappointed” in the election results. He said the district will continue to develop a solution to accommodate growth. There was a lot of effort put into the campaign by those who were in favor of the bond issue.

He said while it is too early to tell what the next step will be for the district, he would expect the board and advisory groups to study where to go from here. Studies have found that Piper would need more classroom space in the future because of anticipated growth in enrollment.

“The problem’s not going to go away, unfortunately, with the growth,” he said. “We just have to regroup.”

Several years ago, voters in the district also defeated a large bond issue question, and after that, the district moved forward with smaller projects.

Conrad said the district would look at the feedback from the “no” voters to find out if the vote was mostly a feeling that they are overtaxed and feel they can’t afford the plan. Then the information could be used in the plans for the next steps for the district.

“We’ll use this as a litmus, so to speak, to gain more information and look to the future,” he said.

On another topic, the Piper school district, like many districts, is facing a reduction in state aid.

Next year the block grant reduction that was announced is projected to be $230,000 to $280,000 less in state aid, Conrad said.

However, district officials are also waiting for the legislative session to end to know the exact figures. Because the Legislature is still in session, cuts could even still be made to this year’s budget, he remarked.

The block grants start July 1 and are in effect for two years. With a reduction of state aid and enrollment growth projected in the Piper district, it has been necessary to make some reductions in the local district budget, he said.

The Piper district has made some reductions, tried to maintain some programs, and has reconfigured some existing contracts with leasing companies, he said. There have been some retirements and resignations, with replacement of staff, and there has not been a big reduction in personnel, he added.