College Bond Measure Keeps Slim Ballot Lead

The margin of victory for a $23-million bond measure to pay for capital improvements at Santa Monica College shrank a little more at the end of last week.

The ballot measure, Proposition T in the Santa Monica Community College District, needs a two-thirds or 66.67% vote to pass. Updated results Thursday from absentee ballots showed the measure still winning with about 73 votes to spare out of 47,144 counted. The percentage of “Yes” votes was 66.82%.

The day after the Nov. 3 election, Proposition T was ahead with a 67.2% approval rate, prompting college officials to declare an early victory.

But the margin has narrowed as the county registrar-recorder’s office worked its way through 100,000 absentee, damaged and provisional ballots. About 45,000 ballots countywide remain to be counted, a spokeswoman for the office said, but there is no way to tell how many are from Santa Monica.

“We’re continuing to hold our breath, but we’re still confident that it’s going to prevail,” college spokesman Bruce Smith said. “It’s a cliffhanger, isn’t it?”

College officials expect that the lead will continue to erode, but not enough to defeat the measure, Smith said.

Another update is expected Monday. Official results should be available the week of Nov. 23.

If passed, the 25-year bond will cost Santa Monica renters about $12 a year and homeowners about $40 a year, or $15 per $100,000 of assessed property value.

The money will be used to expand the library, modernize science buildings and bring the satellite Madison campus up to current safety and handicapped-accessibility standards.