Local News in Brief : Westminster : Margin of School Tax Defeat Was Nearly 3-1

Voters in the Westminster School District rejected an additional property tax to pay for school improvements by almost a 3-to-1 margin, final figures released Wednesday revealed.

According to school officials, the final totals in Tuesday’s referendum, including absentee ballots, showed only 1,287 people, or just 26.5%, voting to approve the tax, and 3,572, or 73.5%, rejecting it.

The tax would have cost a maximum of $100 per residential parcel in the school district and $200 for each business. If passed, Measure A would have ended in 10 years and would have been used initially to restore more than $900,000 in budget cuts.

School Board President Nancy Blumenthal warned that without the additional revenue, parents could expect more program cuts. She said school officials had yet to decide just where to make the cuts.

Supt. Barney Davis told reporters the money would have been used to repair or replace old heaters, leaking roofs and furniture, and said he was disappointed by the outcome of the vote.