COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Coldwater Community School district will have to make do with the conditions in their 65-year-old high school where the original part of the building is starting to show its age. Voters in the district turned down a pair of bonding proposals on Tuesday that would have funded an expansion of the high school as well as renovation projects and a 950 seat auditorium.
Coldwater Community School Superintendent Terry Ann Whelan said she was extremely disappointed and sad about Tuesday’s results.
Tuesday’s results may indicate there was taxpayer fatigue after voters approved funding for the new Lakeland Elementary School, the new Branch County Jail and improvements to the 911 Communications system over the last four years.
Whelan said the needs at the high school will not go away.
The $50 million bonding proposal for what district officials called needed upgrades such as a building wide air conditioning system and new educational technology along with a full remodel went down to defeat 1,929 to 1,686. It failed to pass in 10 of the 12 precincts. It was only approved in the City of Coldwater’s first and third wards. All of the townships that feed into the school district said no.
The second proposal for a $17 million bond and a increase of point-39 mills that would have funded the auditorium was soundly defeated 2,194 to 1,412 as it lost in all 12 precincts. It’s the second time in six years that voters in the district have turned thumbs down to a ballot proposal to build an auditorium at the high school.
This failed because the school based the request amount on what they thought was an easy money grab rather thaw=n what the actually needed and real estimates of that.
The school has just been schooled by the voters!