Wawasee Referendum FailsA referendum to increase property taxes to help fund Wawasee Community School Corporation failed Tuesday by a vote of 5,994 to 3,384.
The school corporation said the increase in dollars generated from the tax hike would help with instruction, safety, and career and technical education.
If the referendum had passed, the property tax rate would have increased “up to” 28.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for the next eight calendar years. Wawasee Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington said in a previous interview, the school district was looking at increasing the tax rate by about half that, 14 cents.
“The Wawasee Community School Corporation will continue to meet the needs of our children as a result of the referendum. We’ll do without some proven programs, people and materials that make a tremendous difference with the safety, education and career development of our students,” said Edington when asked about the referendum loss.
Two Wawasee School Board members up for re-election were unopposed. They were Michael Wilson for District 1, receiving 6,970 votes, 100% of the vote; and Donald Bokhart for District 2, receiving 5,987 votes, 100% of the votes.
Also running unopposed were three people for the Warsaw School Board. Elizabeth Turley, incumbent in District 3, received 2,062 votes; and incumbent Randy Polston ran for District 4 and received 2,270. Matt Deuel ran in District 6 and received 1,530 votes. Deuel will replace Jay Baumgartner, who did not seek re-election.
Two members ran for the Triton School Board unopposed. Kevin Boyer ran for the district-at-large seat and received 414 votes in Kosciusko County and 1,350 in Marshall County for a total of 1,764 votes. Weston Rettinger ran in District 3 and received 401 votes in Kosciusko County and 1,350 votes in Marshall County, for a total of 1,751 votes.
Two incumbent members of Tippecanoe Valley School Board ran unopposed. Aaron Zolman ran in District 1 and received 2,324 votes in Kosciusko County. Adam Heckaman ran in District 2 and received 2,277 votes in Kosciusko County. Fulton County information was unavailable as of late Tuesday.
