A measure that would've paved the way for an auxiliary gym at Riverton Parke was voted down in a special referendum vote Tuesday night.
A total of 404 people or 36.79 percent voted yes, while 694 voters or 63.21 percent voted no. If passed the SW Parke Community School Corporation would have raised taxes to pay for the auxiliary gym. The referendum would have allowed the school to issue up to $10 million in bonds, and the district has made it clear that not all $10 will be used. The school district has said it would target a facility that would cost between $6.5 million and $8 million.
According to data put out by the school corporation, if the referendum was approved, property taxes paid to the school corporation would increase by 14.2 percent and the average tax paid by business property would also increase by 14.2 percent.
Superintendent Dr. Phil Harrison told The Parke County Post the board will now turn its attention and focus on the needs of the district.
"The board will continue to look at the needs of the district and will look at ways to meet them. The needs don’t go away. We just need to brainstorm some," Harrison said.
Leading up to the vote, there was a wave of support for and against the measure on social media, and some residents went as far as to call members of the Indiana General Assembly about the matter. Harrison admitted he thought the vote would be closer despite the outcome and pointed to social media as one reason the result was what it was.
'I think the social media misinformation machine was a major factor," he said.
The veteran superintendent previously said the timing of the referendum was interesting as the Indiana General Assembly recently voted to do away with property taxes and Gov. Mike Braun signed the legislation into law.
"You couple the Senate Bill 1 timing with the timing of trying to create a community referendum for an auxiliary gym, yeah, that has created a number of challenges. I certainly understand why taxpayers would look at all of this situation and take a step back and say why are you asking now. My response is now is truly the best time. We have waited almost 40 years to do a build like this. It will not get cheaper tomorrow or the next day or down the road. All we know is we have today available to us. We have the capacity to do it today. If we have the capacity to do it today, why not today," Harrison said previously.
Despite the setback, Harrison said the mission remains the same and thanked all who voted.
"The message is thank you for participating in the process. We will continue to assess the needs of the district and look for ways to meet them," Harrison said.
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