Canyons District's bond measure wins a squeaker

SANDY — Putting a bond proposition on a ballot during a recession was a gamble, one that Canyons School District barely walked away from with a new pair of schools.

That's one new high school in Draper, a new elementary school in White City and at least five rebuilt middle and elementary schools, to be exact.

Voters approved the young district's $250 million bond Tuesday in an extremely close race. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, votes for the issuance of the bond led by only 1.36 percent — that's 335 votes. Nearly 25,000 votes were cast. Even with absentee ballots, the results are expected to hold.

"We're just pleased that we're going to be able to move forward with the district's academic and capital plans," said Superintendent David Doty at an election party Tuesday.

Doty said he didn't expect 100 percent of the votes to be on the district's side, though two Dan Jones and Associates polls conducted leading up to the race painted a clearer lead for the bond's approval.

Initial election results were against the issuance of the bond, making for a tense few hours at the district offices. When the polls showed a slight lead around 11 p.m. — the first of the night — the room full of administrators and parents erupted in applause and cheers.

The fact that nearly half of voters in the district opposed the bond didn't seem to damper the superintendent's mood.

"It's a majority wins election, and we're going to move forward," Doty said. "I don't think we expected a landslide."

In more than 65 public meetings the district held, Doty said he heard very little opposition to the bond.

"I only heard one person speak in opposition to the bond, and that was a woman from Wasatch County," he said.

That makes for a lot of voters who kept their feelings about the bond between themselves and their ballots.

Residents within Canyons District are currently paying off a former Jordan School District bond that passed before the districts split. As payments on that bond taper off, payments on the new bond will ramp up, so home?owners won't see a decrease in their property taxes for another eight years or so.

In other school election news, district boards of education with more than two candidates running in a race held primary elections. Boards in Alpine, Davis, Canyons and Jordan among others throughout the state had at least one seat up for grabs on the ballot.