The Jonathan Alder Local Schools bond issue has passed by three votes. A recount certified the results after it appeared to fail on election night.
The proposed $70 million bond measure gained 15 votes thanks to the counting of provisional ballots and absentee ballots received after Election Day. That brought the margin in favor of the issue by three votes.
The tally of the votes is 2,281 in favor to 2,278 against it, representing a margin of just 0.03% across the district located in parts of Union, Madison and Franklin counties.
The Madison County Board of Elections said that both Union and Madison Counties have certified their recounts and confirmed that the results have not changed. In Franklin county, three ballots were cast in the race and there were no outstanding ballots to be counted.
People cast provisional ballots on Election Day, but they are not counted until later as county election boards across Ohio verify they were cast appropriately.
On Facebook, Jonathan Alder Local Schools thanked the public for supporting the bond issue, saying “everyone’s commitment to this critical work influences the future of your district.”
“We sincerely thank everyone who stepped forward to engage,” the post said about those who made the initiative successful.
On the Nov. 4 ballot, Jonathan Alder was seeking a proposed property tax levy of 5.12 mills for 37 years to fund a $70,625,000 bond issue for school construction and improvements. Property owners would pay $179 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s appraised value.
In unofficial results on Nov. 4 Election Day, the levy was losing by 12 votes — 2,242 to 2,254. During a May attempt at a similar bond issue, it failed by 16 votes after the election certification process.
Turnaround comes as Jonathan Alder board eyeing suit on Union County treasurer
The change in fortune for the Jonathan Alder Local Schools comes after the district’s board pondered legal action against the Union County treasurer over mailers he sent to property owners — which arrived the day before the election for many voters.
Treasurer Andrew Smarra sent around 13,000 Union County residents mailers, which they began receiving on Nov. 3, informing them that property taxes were rising. In the mailer, Smarra provided property owners their estimated tax figures and noted that it is the county auditor’s job to perform a visual inspection every six years to help reassess each parcel.
At a Nov. 11 Jonathan Alder school board meeting, board members grilled him about the mailers before voting unanimously to pursue legal action against him, with some members saying the mailers were a “malicious” attempt to sabotage the bond issue. Smarra has maintained that there was “nothing insidious” about them.
In the fallout from the mailer, Union County Auditor Andrea Weaver previously said Smarra never told her the mailers were being sent and the figures he provided weren’t updated or complete. She called the mailing “completely wrong and unnecessary.”
Cole Behrens covers K-12 education and school districts in central Ohio. Have a tip? Contact Cole at cbehrens@dispatch.com or connect with him on X at @Colebehr_report
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jonathan Alder school levy survives recount after initially feared loss
Reporting by Cole Behrens, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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