COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – In addition to a bond millage issue for the Coldwater Community Schools Tuesday, there will also be ballot questions for voters in Quincy Township, Algansee Township and the Tekonsha Community School District.
Quincy Township voters will be asked to approve ten year levies of 1.25 mills for police and fire protection.
Voters in Algansee Township will vote on a half mill levy for ten years to maintain and purchase fire apparatus and equipment.
Tekonsha voters will be asked to approve a $1.8 million bonding proposal. The funds would be used for additions to and for the remodeling of school buildings which would include roof replacements and improving technology equipment.
Voters in the Coldwater Community School district will be asked to approve a bonding and millage proposal totaling nearly $30 million. The funds would be used for a new 4th and 5th elementary building to replace Lakeland Elementary, infrastructure improvements and for the purchase of school buses.
While district officials have expressed optimism about Tuesday’s vote, Branch County voters have turned down other millage proposals in the last couple of years.
A pair of bond issues were defeated by wide margins by Coldwater school district voters in May 2015. The first proposal would have raised $46.5 million to build a new facility to replace Lakeland Elementary, pay for building upgrades and update technology and safety. It went down by an almost 3-1 margin, 3,508 to 1,365.
The second bond request to generate $10 million, mostly for a 900 seat auditorium at Coldwater High School, lost by an even wider margin 3,732 to 1,156.
Then in August 2016, a 20-year, 1.5 mill proposal for a new Branch County jail went down to defeat 3,312-2,227.
A number of opponents to Tuesday’s proposal have taken to social media saying they plan to vote no because their taxes are already to high and the Coldwater School District has not spent funds wisely in the past.
Voting for all four wards in the City of Coldwater will take place at the Dearth Center at the Branch County Fairgrounds.
Voters in the Village of Quincy will cast their ballots at the Quincy Village Office.
Voting in Algansee, Batavia, Bethel, Butler, California, Coldwater, Girard, Kinderhook and Union Townships will take place at township halls. Because of the fire which destroyed the Ovid Township Hall, Ovid Township voters will cast their ballots at the Coldwater Lake Association building.
The polls will be open Tuesday from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.
