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Whitefish Voters Reject School Levy Requests

Whitefish, Marion fall short in levy bids for school upgrades; Creston voters approve levy

By Dillon Tabish
Students work on assignments at Muldown Elementary in Whitefish. Beacon File Photo

Updated 9 a.m., May 4

Whitefish voters rejected a pair of levy requests to address maintenance needs at the elementary and high schools while voters in Creston approved a $75,000 levy request for school upgrades, according to preliminary results released Tuesday night. Marion voters also rebuffed a levy request for $48,064 annually for operational costs, 107 against and 101 in favor.

According to the Whitefish school district, 838 people voted against the proposed building reserve levy for the elementary school and 811 were in favor. For the high school, 982 people voted against the proposed levy and 754 were in favor. Voting ending Tuesday night.

In Creston, 107 people voted in favor of a levy request while 80 were against, according to the school district. Creston School District was seeking $15,000 annually for five years, or $75,000, to renovate and maintain its facilities. Property taxes will increase $16.65 annually on a home with an assessed value of $200,000.

Out of 10,335 registered voters in Whitefish, 1,654 cast ballots for a voter turnout of 16 percent. Out of 550 registered voters in Olney/Bissell, 86 cast ballots for a 15.6 percent voter turnout.

Whitefish school administrators and trustees proposed the building reserve levies to address deferred maintenance and other infrastructure needs. The school district is faced with a new structure for tax increment financing that forced the district to seek voter approval of a building reserve levy for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The school district was seeking $400,000 annually for seven years, or $2.8 million, for Muldown Elementary, the city’s lone elementary school, and $300,000 annually for seven years, or $2.1 million, for the high school.

Annual property taxes could have increased an estimated $36.50 for a home with a $200,000 assessed market value in both districts, although TIF funds would have offset some added costs, administrators said.

“We are fortunate to live in a supportive community. As a school district it is our responsibility is to let the voters know what we need for our schools and our voters have the opportunity to let us know what they can support,” Superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt told the Beacon after Tuesday’s election results came in. “We will continue to receive TIF funds from the City of Whitefish that will allow us to provide for many of the needs of our school buildings for the time being and we will work to more effectively communicate our needs to the community in a future levy request. We thank everyone who voted in our school election.”

In Columbia Falls, voters re-elected Larry Wilson and tabbed EJ Hoerner to the school board of trustees for three-year terms in the combined elementary and high school district. Hoerner received 635 votes. Wilson received 608. Incumbent Barb Riley received 550 votes and Ben Shafer earned 513.

In Kalispell, voters re-elected incumbents Mary Tepas and Anna Marie Bailey for three-year terms on the school board, according to the district. Frank Miller was re-elected to a two-year term on the board.

Tepas received 1,915 votes. Bailey received 1,862 and Diane Morton Stout received 1,790. Miller received 1,607 votes and Rebecca Linden received 1,355. A total of 13,049 ballots were mailed and 3,095 were cast for a voter turnout of 23.7 percent.

In Evergreen, voters elected Tamara Williams and Dave Lowitz to the school board of trustees for three-year terms. Williams received 238 votes. Lowitz receied 225. Brant Karlstad received 105 votes.

In Smith Valley, voters re-elected incumbent Doni Bennett to the school board and also tabbed Jerril Ren. Bennett received 93 votes. Ren received 64 votes. Rand Norby earned 34 votes. Also, Richard Frank Sutton was re-elected to a two-year term with 60 votes. Jonathan Sharpe received 29 votes and David Fairbank got 18.