Southern Boone voters approve two tax hikes

Voters turned out on Tuesday and approved both tax increases that will build an additional K-2 building at Southern Boone Primary and put added revenues into the Southern Boone Fire District.

In addition, voters re-elected Jeff Sapp as alderman in Ward 3 over Fred Klippel and re-elected Jim Cunningham to the fire board along with newcomer Alicia Ozenberger. In addition, school board members Barrett Galscock and Steve Condron were re-elected to the Southern Boone School Board.

“We are thankful for the support of the school district,” said school board President Glascock. “We want what’s best for the education of our students and the community stands behind us financially to make sure that happens.”

The school tax measure passed by a 963-664 vote, garnering 59% of the vote.

The district has done some of the pre-engineering work on the project and the new two-story facility – needed to house in influx of students at the kindergarten-through-second grade level – will begin construction this summer. The tax will add 40-cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The school board has already announced its plan to increase its tax rate by 25-cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That vote will take place at the August board meeting when the annual tax rate hearing is held.

Glascock grabbed the most school board votes with 1,010 votes, Condron had 697 and was nearly unseated by the surprising newcomer Ashlee Vaughn, who had 671 votes.

The fire district will add 12-cents per $100 of assessed valuation after passing their tax measure by a 1,116-539 vote, getting 67.43% of the vote. The district will utilize the funding to implement a pay-plus-volunteer program that will cost an estimated $73,000 and assure firefighter coverage 24-hours per day.

Cunningham grabbed the most votes in the fire board race with 737, Ozenberger was elected to the board with 566, comfortably ahead of Shelley Martin in third place with 481 votes.

Sapp retained his seat with 146 votes to Klippel’s 89 votes. In other races, Jesse Bronson and Leslie Martin were unopposed in their Ward 2 and Ward 1 races to retain their seats.