Tulsa World: Voters approve measures in Creek, Osage counties

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Voters approve measures in Creek, Osage counties

By MANNY GAMALLO
Published: 11/10/2009 9:13 PM
Last Modified: 11/10/2009 9:13 PM

Voters at Pawhuska gave their approval Tuesday to a $9.61 million school bond package, the largest in the school district’s history.

A school-bond issue in Mounds also was approved, along with sales-tax questions in Bristow.

At Pawhuska, complete but unofficial returns from the Osage County Election Board showed the first school-bond proposition, seeking $9.37 million for building improvements, with 61.5 percent of the vote.

A second proposition, seeking $240,000 for new school buses, garnered 69 percent of the vote.

State law requires that school-bond issues have a supermajority of at least 60 percent of the vote to be approved.

Although the total bond-issue proposal was the largest in the district’s history, School Superintendent Ben West said property taxes would not be increased.

He said the new bonds would be phased in as already existing bond debts are retired. West credited the community’s support for schools “in these tough economic times.”

West said, “The community showed its support for public education, support for the kids. That’s what it’s all about.”

In the Creek County community of Mounds, two school-bond proposals, seeking a total $2.75 million swept to victory.

The first proposition, for $2.47 million in building improvements, captured 82.28 percent of the vote.

The second question sought $280,000 for new buses, and gained 81.86 percent of the vote.

School officials in Mounds said the new bonds would not require an increase in property taxes.

In another Creek County election, voters at Bristow, by hefty margins, approved two sales-tax questions rolled into one proposition, plus a second sales-tax question on another proposition.

The first proposition, which passed by a vote of 195 to 42, called for the extension of an existing half-cent sales tax until 2020 to pay off street work, and water and sewer improvements. That tax had been set to expire in 2015.

That same proposition asked voters to approve an added half-cent sales tax until 2030 for street work, along with the upgrading of the sewer treatment plant and the city’s water lines.

The second proposition, passed by a vote of 194 to 43, sought approval of an added penny sales tax for the construction of a new hospital. By MANNY GAMALLO

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Pawhuska approves $9 million package," which was published on 11/11/2009. So far, 2 comments have been made.