Numbers Show Millage Increase Soundly Defeated

Two Bella Vista Precincts Overwhelmingly Vote Down Increase

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By Misty Gittings

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BENTONVILLE — A Bentonville School District millage proposal overwhelmingly defeated last month saw its biggest setbacks in precincts that involved Bella Vista voters.

The June 26 millage proposal was turned down by voters in five of six polling places. Passage would have garnered $128 million for the district. About $94 million would have gone to build a 2,000-student high school in Centerton.

By The Numbers

Voting Results

Precinct voting results for the failed June 26 Bentonville School District millage.

• Precinct 18

Site: Cave Springs Community Building

Precincts voting: 18, 19, 20, 39 and 43

Vote: 56 percent for (671 votes). 44 percent against (531 votes)

• Precinct 22

Site: Centerton Fire Station

Precincts voting: 22, 23 and 34

Vote: 52 percent against (1,297 votes). 48 percent for (1,185 votes)

• Precinct 27

Site: Bella Vista Christian Church

Precincts voting: 21, 25, 26 and 27

Vote: 71 percent against (813 votes). 29 percent for (325 votes)

• Precinct 29

Site: St. Theodore’s Episcopal Church, Bella Vista

Precincts voting: 28, 29 and 30

Vote: 70 percent against (1,215 votes). 30 percent for (520 votes).

• Precinct 31

Site: Bella Vista Church of Christ

Precincts voting: 31 and 32

Vote: 56 percent against (776 votes). 44 percent for (600 votes)

• Precinct 36

Site: First Assembly of God Church, Bentonville

Precincts voting: 36, 37, 38, 41 and 47

Vote: 57 percent against (965 votes). 43 percent for (732 votes)

Source: Benton County Election Commission

The proposed 6.7-mill increase had about 70 percent of voters go against it at Bella Vista Christian Church and St. Theodore’s Episcopal Church in Bella Vista. The two polling places serve precincts 21 and 25 through 30, all of which are in Bella Vista.

Robbyn Tumey, county election commissioner, said she spent most of the day in Bella Vista during the June 26 election.

“I knew when you had senior (citizens) standing outside in the weather that it probably didn’t bode well for the initiative,” Tumey said.

The overall voter turnout was 23 percent, which Tumey said was large for a millage vote. Out of a pool of 41,829 eligible voters, 9,664 votes were cast. Just 4,033 of those votes, 42 percent, were for the increase, while 5,597, or 58 percent, were against.

“The story is we got beat handily,” said Superintendent Michael Poore.

The only polling place where the millage increase passed was the Cave Springs Community Building, which served precincts 18, 19, 20, 39 and 43 in the Cave Springs and Highfill area. The increase passed there with 55 percent of the 1,206 votes cast.

The measure even lost in Centerton where the high school would have been built. The millage proposal received just 48 percent of the 2,487 votes cast at the Centerton Fire Department.

Travis Riggs, a school board member, said he was disappointed with the loss in Centerton.

“I thought we would win there,” he said.

Voters in Bentonville shot down the proposal with 56 percent against it at the Bella Vista Church of Christ and Bentonville First Assembly of God Church.

Riggs believes the $23 million for athletic facilities is what ultimately doomed the millage increase.

“I think voters know we have an overcrowding problem and would have voted for a ninth-grade center, a second high school or something else,” Riggs said. “The athletic facilities broke the camel’s back, in my opinion.

“I had people tell me before the election that they wouldn’t vote for the millage because of athletics, and I had people tell me after the election they voted against the millage because of athletics,” Riggs said.

Poore thinks the overall increase in the millage — by 6.7 mills — is why people came out in droves to cast “no” votes. If passed, Bentonville would have had the largest school millage rate in the state.

The athletic facilities weren’t as big a factor as the 6.7 number, Poore said.

“If we had not had athletics (in the proposal) we would have heard about it the other way,” Poore said.

There was some confusion on Election Day as voters tried to figure where to cast their votes. Some traditional polling sites were unavailable because of vacation Bible school or other summer activities, Tumey said.

“I think we handled it as best we could under the circumstances,” she said.

As for the district, officials are trying to figure out how to address student needs without a second high school.

“We are not sure what route we need to take as far as the next option goes,” Poore said.

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