Officials in the Sergeant Bluff-Luton School District have tried for many years to have a schools modernization proposal to be passed by voters, and the latest attempt came a mere handful of votes short.
School bond measures in Iowa require a 60 percent supermajority of affirmative voting to pass.
The $37 million plan for buildings at Sergeant Bluff-Luton got 59.6 percent affirmative vote on Tuesday. If seven of the 1,967 votes had flipped to yesses, it would have hit the 60 percent mark to pass. An official canvassing of the SB-L votes will come on Thursday, whether that changes the official result will be known a day from now.
There was one other very narrow defeat in a school bond measure, as $9 million schools plan at Hinton got 58.8 percent.
Elsewhere in Northwest Iowa, all school bond measures failed, including with 53 percent for a $9.3 million project at Westwood of Sloan and only 40 percent for $13.5 million of potential improvements to the junior and senior high building in the Lawton-Bronson district. All those are in districts where voters previously defeated school projects.
Three other defeats in other non-school bond issues came with 57 percent affirmative vote for $12.5 million for a new jail building in Sac County, after voters defeated an $11 million measure two years ago.
Other defeats included $16 million for a new fire hall in Le Mars and $1.2 million proposal for a library in Alta in Buena Vista County only got 40 percent.
