Surprise, Dysart voters crush spending requests

Voters in Surprise and the Dysart school district made it clear Tuesday that this is not the time for elected officials to ask them for any more money.

By margins of greater than 2-1, voters rejected a city bond issue that mainly would have paid for transportaion improvements and a budget override in Dysart designed to keep class sizes down and retain teachers.

Surprise Mayor Lyn Truitt said he saw it coming.

"I anticipated the bond would fail because these are difficult economic times," Truitt said. "And with the slip-ups at City Hall, there was cause to be concerned."

Truitt was referring to a $4.5 million budgeting error that came to light in the midst of the bond campaign and also to the recent overpayments in severance packages to departing city staffers.

Preliminary, unofficial voting results, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, show a total of 10,671 votes against the $185 million bond package, and 4,149 votes for it. Official results should be released later this week.

Also defeated was the general plan: 8,564 to 6,118.

"The good part is the people had a voice, so now we know where things stand and will hold off on those projects until we can come up with something in better economic conditions," Truitt said. "Everybody is a little bit pessimistic because of the economy, and the voters made it very clear."

Truitt said roads do need improvement, but he is not aware of any other funding sources to get the job done.

"So we are putting transportation on hold until there is money available," Truitt said.

He also said he was disappointed the city’s general plan did not pass.

"I think that just reflected the wave of sentiment with the people, because it would not have cost them anything," Truitt said. "It was just a matter of showing what the plans were for the future with the Village Concept. We did a lot of community outreach on that."

"Again, I think the mindset was ‘no’ was going to be the vote," Truitt said.

Unofficial results indicate that Dysart Unified School District voters decided against renewing the override funds by slightly more than 2-1.

With all of the precincts reporting, there were 10,482 votes against the budget, and 5,043 for it. The K-3 budget was also defeated with 10,228 votes against it and 5,202 votes supporting it.

The overrides included a $11.6 million maintenance and operations budget override and a $4.1 million kindergarten-through-third-grade override, which would have funded the district’s K-3 programs, including reading programs and all-day kindergarten.

The maintenance and operations budget overrides were geared to keep class sizes low and help recruit and retain staff.

The two overrides would have been a renewal of taxes already in place. A renewal the two overrides on the ballot would not have levied a new tax, but continued the taxes that are currently in place.

With the overrides defeated, Dysart will have to cut more than $15 million from its operating budget over the next three years.