By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — Nearly all of the local proposals and millage requests on the ballot in St. Joseph County and Cass County, except for one, were approved by voters in the Tuesday, Aug. 5 election.
Local voters approved school operating millage renewals in Mendon, Marcellus and Nottawa, while also approving an emergency services millage renewal in Nottawa. The lone vote that failed Tuesday was a major $14 million bond proposal from Colon Community Schools, the only race to see a single-digit percentage margin on the evening.
In Mendon, voters overwhelmingly approved a 10-year renewal of the Mendon Community Schools operating millage, with 69.81 percent (296 votes) approving the millage and 30.19 percent (128 votes) voting against it. The renewal means that the school will continue to levy an 18-mill operating millage on non-homestead properties in the district.
“Our community support is undeniably awesome. It feels great to be so supported and to have our students feel so supported,” Mendon Community Schools Superintendent Leasa Griffith-Mathews said. “If we don’t have our operating millage renewed, then we would’ve had to find teachers to cut, programs to cut, and nobody likes to talk about those things. I’m glad we don’t have to.”
For Marcellus Community Schools, it was a slightly closer margin of victory, but still decisive, as 62.77 percent (290 votes) of voters approved a renewal of its 18-mill operating millage, compared to 37.23 percent (172 votes) against. Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunn said it was a “relief” to get the millage passed, as it makes up 20 percent of the district’s budget.
“It’s good, and it’s a relief that our citizens did the right thing and voted yes to continue to support the school,” Dunn said.
The widest margin of victory of the evening was for Nottawa Community School, where 78.43 percent of voters (80 votes) voted for approval of renewing its 18-mill non-homestead operating millage, while 21.57 percent (22 votes) voted against it. Superintendent Jerome Wolff said he was grateful to Nottawa Township voters for voting in the affirmative.
“We’re so grateful to our community for that, it’s just awesome and such wonderful support for local education,” Wolff said. “It’s important to us that we’re here into the future to operate, and the millage is approximately 25 percent of our funding. It’s really an essential part of what we do, and it’s great that the community is supporting that.”
On the township side, Nottawa Township voters also approved a renewal of its emergency services millage, with 77.49 percent of voters (265 votes) voting in favor of renewal and 22.51 percent (77 votes) against. The millage helps fund fire department administration, equipment and operations, as well as ambulance services, all through contract with the Centreville Fire Department and LifeCare.
“Our thanks to the voters for approving that. I think it shows confidence that it was necessary, and hopefully we’ll use those funds wisely,” Nottawa Township Supervisor Dave Peterson said.
However, the lone local measure that did not pass Tuesday was over in Colon, where voters in Colon Township, Leonidas Township and other surrounding townships defeated a $14 million bond proposal for Colon Community Schools, with 53.22 percent (380 votes) voting against the proposal and 46.78 percent (334 votes) voting in favor.
The proposal would’ve included a number of safety, infrastructure, and learning environment upgrades if passed, as well as a brand-new gymnasium building dubbed the “Magi Athletic Complex.” It would’ve kept the current debt tax rate for the district of 0.37 mills intact, meaning there wouldn’t have been an increase in the tax rate if passed.
Superintendent Rick Hilderley said he appreciated the support that the proposal got, and said there’s plenty to work on moving forward, particularly in engaging those that are outside of Colon Township.
“It turned out to be very close, so we’re encouraged by the support, and we’ll try to drill down into the people who didn’t support it to see if there’s things we can do to get them on our side,” Hilderley said. “We’ll do some debrief work and then take that information to the board, start out with the facilities committee, and then have a full board discussion at some point about how we want to approach it.”
Breaking down the vote by the numbers, voters in Colon Township specifically were in favor of the proposal, with 245 yes votes (50.31 percent) and 242 no votes (49.69 percent), however voters in Leonidas Township voted 42-32 against the proposal, Nottawa Township voters voted 6-1 against the proposal, and voters in Matteson (43-31) and Sherwood townships (47-27) in Branch County disapproved of the proposal.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
