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Smith Valley Voters Reject School Bond Request

Unofficial results show 392 residents voted against the bond and 161 were in support

By Dillon Tabish
Smith Valley School on March 9, 2017. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

Voters in the Smith Valley school district rejected a $6 million bond request that would have addressed increasing enrollment and deteriorating facility conditions.

The unofficial results show 392 residents voted against the bond and 161 were in support, according to Serina Nelson, the district’s business manager. A total of 11,075 registered voters received ballots earlier this month. The bond election ended at 8 p.m., March 28.

The request arrived at a time of increasing enrollment and deteriorating facility conditions, according to school officials. Enrollment hit 231 students last fall, 23 more than 10 years earlier.

The bond fund would have helped build a new section of school for kindergarten-through-eighth grade students. The last time a bond was approved was in 2004 and it was used to develop a modular building to house kindergarten through fourth grade. The latest 20-year bond would have funded a new gymnasium, library, five additional classrooms, repurpose the current gym into a flexible space for a cafeteria and other uses and address parking issues.

If the bond were approved, residents with homes valued at approximately $200,000 would have seen their property taxes annually increase by an estimated $448.83, according to the district.

Following the bond rejection, a facilities planning committee will reconvene and decide future options for the school, Nelson said.