School levy in Superior fails to pass

SUPERIOR – Voters in Superior voted down a proposed levy that would have paid for a new addition to the high school to replace the aging junior high school building that is increasingly prone to plumbing issues and is also suffering from structural deficiencies.

The $3.99 million levy would have built new classrooms and other facilities onto the existing high school’s infrastructure in order to save costs. The facility would have featured a state-of-the-art heating system that officials estimated would have saved tens of thousands of dollars a year in utility costs.

Superior voters took to the polls on Sept. 23 at the high school multi-use room and shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., supporters received the news that the levy had failed by over 100 votes. Superior School District Superintendent Scott Kinney said, while he was disappointed the levy failed, at least his staff knows how to address problems with the junior high when they arise.

“We will just have to suck it up for another year,” Kinney said. “Our maintenance staff spent a lot of time getting the junior high ready for the fair and the school year so we know what to look for.”

Kinney said, while this was the second time voters have failed to support the measure, he and other supporters are not giving up. He said an amended version of the levy that is not as much of a burden on taxpayers is being considered and the committee that came up with the idea for the addition will continue to meet.

“We will put together another proposal and the Facilities Committee will continue to meet,” Kinney said. “We will continue to look for grant monies available from the state and federal government. We may look at running a smaller levy.”

The smaller levy could be close to half of the one that failed to pass last week according to Kinney. The reduction in cost would come from the elimination of the technologically advanced and efficient heating system that was proposed. Kinney said the new plan would propose to tie in to the existing heating system the high school already uses.

“If we could just build the new junior high annex onto the high school, at least we would be dealing with the majority of the serious issues we are facing now,” Kinney said. “We could then look at buying the bio-mass system at a later date. At least then, we would have safe, clean classrooms.”

Kinney said the earliest the new measure would come up for a vote would be in the spring. He said supporters of the new addition would use that time to continue to address misinformation in the community about what the money will be used for.

“We want people to know what we are proposing,” Kinney said. “We’ve still heard about misinformation out there. There are still people who think we want to spend the money on the football field or a new track and that’s just not the case.”