W-MU bond referendum narrowly fails

WINFIELD - A $4.75 million bond referendum designed to carry the Winfield-Mt. Union (W-MU) School building through the next 25 years has failed, according to unofficial results from Tuesday's special election.

The Henry County Auditor's office reported Tuesday evening that 57 percent of voters elected to approve the issue, which doesn't meet the 60 percent supermajority needed for the bond issue to be approved. The office reported that of 1,136 registered voters, 388 had voted in the election. Of those 223 voted to approve the bond and 165 voted against it. The results of the election will be canvassed by the Henry County Board of Supervisors during its April 9 meeting and the official results will be posted at that time. W-MU School Superintendent Jeff Maeder commented that the 60 percent goal had been missed by about 10 votes.

'We came very close,” Maeder said. 'One of the first conclusions is that we have the right plan. I didn't hear anyone say anything negative about the plan. I think there is enough belief in the project itself that it is worth trying again.”

He plans to discuss the next steps to be taken with the school board, which meets next at 7 p.m. April 10 in the school building. The district will have to wait at least six months before being able to try to hold the referendum again.

Maeder said work has already begun to install a new Heating Ventalation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) environmental system. In a previous interview, Maeder said the $3 million system is something the building needs and would be done whether the issue had been approved or not. He explained the current boiler system in the building is many years past its life expectancy.

The remaining projects in the $6.4 million makeover that won't be done include creating new space in the cafeteria, installing a new membrane on the prekindergarten and kindergarten addition, and modifying a space currently used by the industrial tech wing into a multipurpose area. The district recently purchased a building near the school that will be used for the industrial tech department. If the bond had been approved, taxpayers would have seen about a $2.70 per $1,000 of taxable valuation tax rate increase for 20 years. The remainder of the funding for the $6.4 million project would have been raised with sales tax revenue.

Maeder said the district had really good community support. He explained promoting the issue in the community is a team effort and thanked the team that helped increase awareness of the referendum.

'There is really great community support for our school,” he said.

The bond issue was the result of a needs assessment of the facilities. A list of priorities was created from the study and community meetings were held to rank the priorities.

In 2017 the district had held a bond issue for $7.2 million with a $4.05 per $1,000 of taxable valuation rate increase. That issue was also voted down, receiving 52 percent of the vote. That project had also included expanding the industrial tech department from its location in the school and would have added 11,000 square feet to the building.