Election results from across the state are in as voters from more than 200 communities held local election’s yesterday.
In West Michigan, the nearly $100-million-dollar Grand Rapids Community College millage failed.
Voters in other parts of the state, however, seemed more willing to spend on education. The Ann Arbor Public Schools technology bond passed with 70 percent in favor of the bond. As AnnArbor.com reports, "the bond plan will be phased-in over the course of 10 years in three separate series, spending $27.27 million in 2012, $10.57 million in 2015 and $8.01 million in 2018. The first series will be for equipment and infrastructure improvements primarily, while the final two series are not entirely planned out yet. More than half of the $45.8 million, about $25 million, will be spent to replace the district’s nearly 8,250 computers — both laptops and desktops."
Voters also approved a bond proposal in the Bloomfield Hills School District. "The result followed a decade of debate and previous votes on the district's two aging and shrinking high schools. With 61% of voters saying yes, residents of the Bloomfield Hills School District voted 7,817-4,998 to pass a proposal that will fund a single high school," the Detroit Free Press reports.
In Brighton, voters narrowly approved an $88 million bond issue. The unofficial vote was 4969-4476.
In, other results, a one-percent city income tax was defeated in Ypsilanti. Only about 35 percent of voters were in favor of the tax.
Voters near Lansing defeated a proposal that would have added a surcharge on their water bills to pay for a sludge dryer in Delhi Township. As the Associated Press reports, "the proposal would have created a system to dry sludge from the community's wastewater treatment system. The unofficial final vote count shows it failing 2,471-1,726. Michigan State University said it was willing to buy a ton a day for its power plant."
And, in Hudsonville, a suburb of Grand Rapids, voters defeated a proposal to join a regional transit system.
