Bigfork High School bond fails again

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

The $11.1 million Bigfork High School bond failed Tuesday in an election that saw more than 50 percent voter turnout.

The final tally was 1,209 for and 1,458 against.

°()()Obviously we°Ore disappointed°+/- District Superintendent Russ Kinzer said. °()()But we have to respect the vote.°+/-

This was the second time in five months that the Bigfork School Board came to voters for approval of the bond. It failed by 84 votes in an election in October. A $5.5 million bond for improvements to the elementary school was given the go-ahead by voters in that election.

This election, like the one last fall, was conducted by mail-in ballot and brought almost identical levels of voter turnout. Ballot box elections typically have a low voter response, according to district officials, and require a minimum number of respondents to be valid. There is no minimum for a mail-in election.

The high school bond would have expanded the school and updated some of its aging facilities such as portable classrooms used for some math classes and antiquated science laboratories.

Also included in the bond was $200,000 earmarked for a joint community/high school library that would have replaced BHS°Os library and the Bigfork branch of the Flathead County Library system currently located downtown.

°()()Sometime in the future there will be a price to be paid,°+/- Kinzer said. °()()The A6P5building will just continue to deteriorate.°+/-