District 26 tax hike referendum sinks and cuts could loom

Voters in Cary School District 26 gave a tax increase a failing grade Tuesday.

With all precincts reporting, unofficial results showed 1,106 people opposed compared to 637 in favor.

The school district's referendum asked whether to raise the tax rate 5 cents per $100 of equalized assessed value in order to borrow $17 million to finance improvements and to reduce costs for short-term borrowing. The extra 5 cents would have cost the owner of a $300,000 home about $47 in the first year.

School Board President Craig Loew, who did not win re-election, said the economic slump and the fact the district took a relatively low-key approach to the referendum contributed to its defeat.

"It was not structured to threaten or hold anyone hostage as something that would be harmful to the children (if it failed)," Loew said.

Officials said they needed the money to upgrade the district's technology program, as more than 950 of its 1,100 computers are more than five years old.

Now the district needs to "get creative" to solve its fiscal problems, re-elected Board Member Chris Jenner said. He advocated putting more projects out to bid or seeking waivers from mandates such as physical education every day to save money.

Incoming Board Member Christopher Spoerl believes that the district needs to complete its budget early in order to make tough choices that could include cutting teaching staff.

"In the future, there is a possibility that the quality of school instruction may suffer," Spoerl said. "It depends how skilled the administration is at making cuts.

School leaders had hoped to use the referendum money for capital improvement projects, including roof replacements, new school buses and school parking lot repairs.

As well, officials wanted to restructure the district's finances to eliminate and reduce short-term borrowing - estimating this would save $130,000 annually.

The school district has had three building referendums since 1992 - officials used the money to build Three Oaks School, Deer Path School and Cary Junior High School Voters rejected an education rate increase in 2004.