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ALPENA -- Voters in both Alcona Community Schools and Onaway Area Schools on Tuesday rejected bond proposals that would have funded significant renovations to school buildings and raised property taxes in the school districts.
Alcona voters chose overwhelmingly to reject that district's $20 million bond proposal, with only 37% voting in favor and 63% voting in opposition, according to unofficial results on Tuesday.
In Onaway, voters rejected two bond proposals, one that would have raised $11.6 million for school renovations and another that would have raised $6 million. Voters said no to both, with 47% favoring the $11.6 million proposal and 53% against it and 39% in favor of the $6 million proposal and 61% against it, according to unofficial results.
Also in Onaway, voters named Andrew Bischer and Roger A. Marsh to the Onaway City Commission, unofficial results showed.
Alcona Superintendent Dan O'Connor said after Tuesday's votes that he respects the community's decision, acknowledging the difficulty of the choice for voters.
O'Connor said he will have to manage the repairs and renovations with its $500,000-a-year sinking fund.
"The district still has $20 (million) to $30 million in needs over the next 10 years that we're gonna have to try to address," O'Connor said. "We will continue to do the best we can with our half-million-dollar sinking fund each year, and respect the community's decision."
O'Connor expressed gratitude to residents and groups who were part of the dialogue leading up to the vote.
"I thank all the community groups who were welcoming to come to meetings and welcomed us in meetings, we appreciate their hospitality," O'Connor said. "We'll continue to do our best to support students and try to continue to make Alcona schools an awesome place."
Onaway Superintendent Mindy Horn did not respond to messages seeking comment late Tuesday.
A majority of $20 million raised from the Alcona bounds would have gone toward renovating existing facilities within the district's elementary and middle/senior high schools and transportation buildings, with some of the funding also going into the creation of new facilities, such as a multi-use educational/recreational facility at the elementary school and a livestock learning building for the agri-science program at the middle/high school.
The elementary school would have seen renovation of the entryway to make it more secure. The money also would have bought a new fire alarm system, gym floor, cafeteria seating, and boilers, among other improvements.
The middle/high school would have seen updated classrooms, a remodeled woodshop, a weight room, and a science lab, investments in instructional technology, and a new heating and cooling system, among other improvements.
The transportation building would have seen reworked plumbing, a new entrance drive, and new fences, gates, and concrete parking pads for the buses, among other improvements.
Outdoors, the district would have repaired the bus parking lane, replaced the parking lot, and improved the drainage around the building.
The bond proposal would have raised property taxes by an estimated 2.2 mills, costing the owner of a $100,000 house around $110 a year in additional taxes over the next 20 years.
In Onaway, the $11.6 million proposal would have allowed the district to replace its aging heating and cooling system -- installed in the early 1960s -- in its school building.
The district would have also addressed site drainage issues at the school, improved the entrance to the school to make it more secure, renovated some classrooms, created spaces for career and technical education courses, including potential space for home economics, and improved the school playground.
The $6 million proposal would have allowed the district to build a new auxiliary gym primarily for elementary students and wrestling.
The district also would have upgraded the school parking lot to improve traffic flow.
If both Onaway proposals had passed, property taxes in that district would have risen by an estimated 1.34 mills, costing the owner of a $100,000 house about $67 in additional taxes per year over the next 21 years.