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Carterville, Herrin made school sales tax a victory

BY JOHN HOMAN, The Southern

Friday, February 8, 2008 10:12 PM CST

MARION — It was not the convincing margin of victory Williamson County school administrators were hoping for in Tuesday’s primary, but in the end, all that mattered to them was that the referendum calling for a 1 percent increase in sales tax had passed with a majority of the vote.

County Clerk Saundra Jent said Friday only a handful of mailed absentee ballots remain to be counted. The yes votes outnumber the no votes on the tax proposal 9,066 to 8,324, a spread of 742.

Jent said all voting precincts in Marion defeated the referendum by about 50 votes per precinct on the average. Only the Creal Springs precinct, which is part of the Marion school district, voted in favor of the measure and that could be attributed to the fact that Marion will build a new elementary school there first.

The village of Crab Orchard also passed the tax with Pittsburg and Johnston City voting against it.

But what turned the tide in favor of county schools was voters in Carterville and Herrin. Jent said Herrin passed the referendum by well over 700 votes and Carterville by a resounding 1,000 plus.

“That was the difference,” she said.

Herrin Unit 4 Superintendent Mark Collins said he hopes the 8,000 county residents who voted against the tax increase will come to find in the months and years ahead that the administrators and boards within the county are credible people and that monies raised from the tax will only be applied to new school construction or the retirement of school debt.

Collins said Herrin should benefit greatly from the lowest property taxes in the county after abatements are made this summer.

“More people are going to want to move here and build here because of that,” he said.

Carterville Unit 5 Superintendent Tim Bleyer said his district may have shown the most overwhelming support for the tax, but described the win as a collaborative effort.

“Every vote counted the same,” he said. “It took residents in all five unit districts to make this happen. Here in Carterville and the Tri-C area, we just had an easier job of convincing the voters of the need for a new school.”

Marion Unit 2 Board president Todd Goodman said the fact that Marion residents rejected the referendum is not disconcerting to him.

“I know this community has always been supportive of its school system, but many voters said no because they love their mayor and he was opposed to the tax increase,” Goodman said. “The voters were getting mixed messages. Now it’s up to us to put the money to its intended use.”

Goodman explained that Williamson County school districts, like Marion, simply couldn’t continue to wait year after year on the state to come through with promised funding.

“We’ve filled every old storage room we have with kids,” he said. “We need new schools. Passing this tax was extremely important. I think the people know that we will continue to do what’s best for our students.”