The school board put a $114 million bond on the ballot to pay for a new school building and aquatic facilities near the rock ledges on the north side of Coalville.
It needed a simple majority to pass Tuesday. After the first 1,400 votes were counted on election night, 56% of voters said “no.”
Board member Waylon Bond said the district hasn’t decided on next steps.
“We know it's needed, so our options are either wait and do it again next fall, or—I don't know exactly what the next course of action would be,” he told KPCW after the election.
For residents, a $114 million bond translates to $118 per year for every $100,000 in property value. For businesses, it’s $215 per year per $100,000 in value.
The bond would be paid off after 21 years.
At a meeting Aug. 15, Superintendent Jerre Holmes explained getting a high school wasn’t to have something nicer so much as to have something “safer and more efficient.”
School board members consulted with architects who raised safety concerns about the current high school. They point to aging utilities infrastructure and a layout with security vulnerabilities.
But at October’s school board meeting, resident Keith Rickett argued the proposal was simply too big.
“I think what you're looking for in a bond of over 100 million is frankly disproportionate to the population that is here now,” he told board members.
Growth may come all the same. A town-sized development is under review in Hoytsville, and the Red Hills subdivision is already approved between Hoystville and Coalville.
The Wasatch County Board of Education ran into the same problem as North Summit in 2019. Voters rejected a $150 million bond for a new high school. Three years later, the Wasatch County board decided to issue it without putting it on the ballot.
Election results are preliminary until they’re certified by local canvass boards weeks after the election. As of Wednesday morning, Summit County clerks had counted half the ballots received.
Officials in Summit and Wasatch counties have yet to announce when results will be certified.
