Diamond Lake district breathes sigh of relief

They had been cautiously optimistic on Election Night, but it took two more weeks for supporters of a tax hike in Diamond Lake Elementary District 76 to declare victory.

"It's official," said Ron Carlson, a former school board member who resigned this summer to lead the volunteer referendum effort.

Unofficial results on Election Night had a measure to increase the education fund tax rate to raise about $1.4 million passing by a mere 45 votes, 1,489 to 1,444.

That total did not include provisional or late-arriving absentee ballots, however. And since district officials and volunteers had no idea how many there were, they couldn't uncork the champagne without hesitation.

All doubt was put to rest Tuesday as the last batch of votes were added to the totals. The result: eight additional "yes" votes and 13 additional "no" votes. That narrowed the final margin of success to 40 votes.

"Summer school will go on as before, all extracurricular activities will be in place next year as this year," Carlson said.

"It's really continuing on with the plan the district has had that has been successful rather than taking a step back."

Volunteers waged a months-long campaign to inform voters on a confusing ballot question. Most of the battle was centered not on letting voters know there was a referendum on the ballot but telling them what it was about.

Voters were asked only to increase the education fund tax rate. What wasn't on the ballot was a district promise to lower a different tax rate by the same amount so that the net result would be no change on tax bills.

Rejection of the request would have resulted in teacher and program cuts and changes in other areas.