Voters approve Nebo bond for 7 new schools

Voters in the Nebo School District have approved — barely — a $160 million bond election to build seven new schools.

But the June 23 election may well be the last special bond election held in Utah, as two influential Utah lawmakers are sponsoring a bill to require that in the future, all such votes be held in November as part of the general election.

"This, in our opinion, was an attempt to rig the election," said Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper.

The bond passed by a slim 122 votes, slightly less than 2 percent, according to results of the official canvass made known at a school board meeting Wednesday night. On the night of the election, school officials declared the vote was too close to call until absentee and provisional ballots could be counted.

The official tally shows 3,133 voted for the bond and 3,011 voted against, with just over 10 percent of the registered voters participating. An accompanying .0001 voted leeway was approved by an even closer margin of 52 votes, 3,136 for and 3,084 against.

The district plans to begin construction on a new elementary in east Spanish Fork and a junior high school in Salem, as well as an addition to Taylor Elementary in spring of 2010, at a total cost of $45 million. Over the next six years, the district plans to build five new elementary schools and two junior highs.

"The results of the election come with mixed emotions," said Nebo District Superintendent Chris Sorensen. "We are sensitive to and aware of how difficult a time this is to be asking people to extend the life of our current tax obligation to include this additional $160 million dollars of debt. At the same time, we are thrilled that we will be able to provide schools for the students of our district."

Sorensen said getting the vote approved in June would save taxpayers in the Nebo District hundreds of thousands of dollars in construction costs, by allowing the district to design the buildings now and to bid them when the prices are lowest.

But Stephenson, who is also president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, said holding the election in June in an off-election year and when it was the only issue on the ballot is tantamount to rigging the election and he intends to make sure no local government can do it again.

"They wanted to slip this by the voters when people are on vacation and when they don't know there is an election," Stephenson said. "That's just what they did." He and Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, have opened a bill to be considered in the 2010 legislative session that would require that bond elections only be held during general or municipal elections.