NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Tuesday voters in Floyd County, Indiana spoke loud and clear on Primary Day, they don't want a tax increase. The school safety referendum which would have meant a property tax hike was voted down.
Total votes:
- No - 7,438 | 52.49%
- Yes - 6,733 | 47.51%
If the referendum had passed, New Albany Floyd County Schools would have been the second district in the state of Indiana to have it. County leaders say the tax increase would have meant more than $3 million into the district to fund safety upgrades and mental health.
Previous story | Monday, June 1
It’s being faced with some opposition, laid out in this Facebook page created by the group Grassroots Concerned Citizens.
"People are just mad and we've had enough tax increases,” said Dale Mann, who is treasurer of Grassroots Concerned Citizens. "It's a tax increase. We're against all tax increases."
The referendum would add a $0.085 property tax increase for Floyd County homeowners over the next eight years. Mann says that translates to a $100 increase for his property. He also says the district’s handling of the last referendum has instilled distrust in some.
"I've got a feeling they're going to have a hard time getting this passed because people are mad. They're mad about the $3 million. They're mad about the story that was told on the last referendum, the promises that were broken,” he said.
State law dictates where money from this referendum can be spent. The school district has outlined how it plans to spend the money on it’s website.
"I don't want to minimize a financial impact that any individual person is going to feel, but this is how education is funded in Indiana. This is an instance of direct democracy,” said Misty Ronau, who heads up the political action committee in support of the tax.
Ronau said due to the pandemic, she faced some unique challenges during the campaign.
"With social isolation beginning before spring break, it really derailed us,” she said. “We had to pivot the way that we were going to campaign, and it really has put a damper on how many people we could reach."
Despite that, Ronau said she has seen a lot of support from the community. She also said the pandemic has highlighted the mental health issues that the referendum is working to help.
“Who knew in March when we were breaking for spring break that we would come back to a challenge in this campaign that made this campaign more valuable than we ever would have thought,” she said.
Ronau said the most rewarding part of the campaign has been to see the community have a dialogue about mental health.
"I truly feel that the stigma that is attached to mental health is as much of a barrier to people accessing the help that they need as lack of practitioners that we have in our community,” Ronau said.
Superintendent Brad Snyder echoed that sentiment, in a statement saying, “Win or lose, this was an important dialogue we needed to have with our community. These topics, especially the conversation of trying to help our students with anger management, bullying prevention, addiction, and school violence, isn’t often publicly discussed. We wanted to try and break the barriers for those who need help. We believe helping students help themselves will improve the overall learning environment for every child in our schools.”
If passed the school district says 30% of the money will go to physical safety upgrades and 70 percent will go to mental health services.
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