REED CITY — Reed City Area Schools said it’s back to square one after their second attempt to pass a bond proposal worth more than $75 million was voted down last night.
A similar bond worth more than $88 million request was voted down back in May.
Reed City Superintendent Mike Sweet said this second proposal was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters. The proposal was defeated by close to 75% of people who voted.
“No votes stayed basically the same, maybe increased a little bit, but the yes votes weren’t there. So, I’m guessing right now nobody liked the proposal the way it was written,” said Sweet.
Sweet said he wasn’t surprised by the results.
“I was hoping it would do a little bit better than it did, maybe to show that we gained some ground, but we cut some significant things out of there as far as safety-wise. Maybe some of the yes voters didn’t like that,” said Sweet.
The district’s May request for more than $88 million also overwhelmingly failed. Despite that, he said they still had to try.
“We have to because there’s such a need in the district that if something doesn’t happen, the district is going to have severe problems with its buildings, boilers and roofs, primarily. So we had to make this decision to run it again two weeks after the last results came out,” said Sweet.
Sweet said they will be forced to revisit a bond proposal of some kind in the future.
“The hard part with the current proposal was that things were layered together. They were dependent upon one thing happening to make another happen. So, it will require some rethinking,” said Sweet.
He predicts a new bond could be on the November 2026 ballot but doesn’t know what the price tag will be.
“The base of the $30 million for the roofs and the boilers doesn’t go away. The fact that we need some safety upgrades at the middle school as far as a secure entrance does not go away. While a sinking fund or a $10 million bond might help the district get a few things done. Unfortunately, that’s almost still a Band-Aid because it’s not enough to do all of the needs right now,” said Sweet.
He said in order to pass a bond-they realize it’s crucial to get the support of the community.
“It wasn’t the right proposal. So, we have to go back to the drawing board, per se, and figure out what is the right proposal, because there are needs in the district that must be taken care of,” said Sweet.