It wasn’t a good night to place a ballot issue before voters.
In final, unofficial results from Tuesday's municipal election in Jefferson County, a question asking voters in unincorporated areas to institute a 3/8ths-cent sales tax for county parks maintenance and improvements went down to a decisive defeat, 26.98 percent to 73.02 percent.
Eight cities asked their voters to approve use taxes – another name for sales tax on internet purchases.
Only voters in Crystal City approved the measure.
Their counterparts in Arnold, Byrnes Mill, Crystal City, De Soto, Eureka, Festus, Herculaneum and Pevely all turned thumbs-down, most often by a lopsided margin.
Other ballot issues fared poorly.
Tax issues proposed by the De Soto School District (a 25-cent tax increase and a shift of 25 cents from the bond fund to general operating revenue) and the Hillsboro R-3 School District (a 40-cent tax shift from the bond fund to general operating revenue and a separate $25 million bond issue) failed to gain favor with voters, although the Windsor C-1 School District overwhelmingly passed a $20 million bond issue extension. A 54-cent tax shift requested by the Rockwood School District was failed by a slim margin.
Three fire protection districts asked their voters for tax issues, and Dunklin (a 5.4-cent property tax increase for pensions and a separate 25-cent tax increase for improvements) and Hillsboro (a 35-cent tax increase to maintain current staffing levels) were turned away. However, the Metro-West Fire Protection District, which includes the Wildwood area, asked its voters for a $25 million bond issue extension), and that was approved by a wide margin.
Two ambulance districts placed bond issues before their residents: Big River ($17 million bond issue) and North Jefferson ($21 million bond issue). Both failed to attract the 4/7ths majority required for bond issues, although both would have won by simple majorities.
Kimmswick and Scotsdale asked their voters to allow their city governments to not hold elections when there are no contested races, and both were approved.
County Clerk Ken Waller said he was happy that the voter turnout of 17.8 percent was more than double last April’s 8.21 percent.,
“I hope this is a trend for April elections,” he said. “These elections have big impacts on taxpayers, and it’s good to see people participating.”
Waller said he believed that the parks tax was a major driver of voters to the polls.
“There were 20,000 votes cast for Prop P, out of the 28,008 total ballots on Tuesday,” he said.
He said typically, more people reporting to the polls is not a good harbinger for tax issues.
“Especially in an April election, the ‘No’ people come out more than the ‘Yes’ people when you see a bigger turnout. And with gas and food as high as it is, it’s hard to pass a tax issue.”
Weather, he said, also played a factor in getting people out.
“We saw that turnout in our polling places was relatively low in the morning, when there were storms, but about 9:30 or 10, when the clouds were breaking up over most of the county, things started to pick up. By noon, we were seeing a lot of people coming in.”
He said he took notice of the race for Crystal City mayor, in which challenger Mike Osher defeated Tom Schilly, who has been the city’s mayor since 2002.
Waller said he’s not sure what’s going to happen in a couple of razor-close races.
In the election for two seats on the Hillsboro R-3 Board of Education, incumbent Robert Kruse garnered the most votes, but veteran board member Jon Schuessler edged Jaclyn Brown by one vote, 1,046 to 1,045, for the second seat.
Even closer in Dunklin R-5, Marissa Newman was the top vote-getter, but incumbent John Maddox IV tied with Jarred Engelbach for the second seat, as both garnered 449 votes.
“I’m not sure what we’re going to do,” Waller said. “For Dunklin, our verification board will come in and recount all the votes, and we’ll see if that resolves things. I would think that Mr. Maddox, as the incumbent, will continue to serve until the issue is resolved.
“In R-3, I imagine that Ms. Brown will have to get a court order if she wants to force a recount," if the final, official numbers are the same. "But we’ll look at that closer tomorrow morning.”
Final, unofficial results from the April 5 election unless indicated. Winners in bold. Incumbents listed with an (I). Ballot issues required a simple majority for passage unless indicated.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
PROPOSITION P
3/8ths-cent sales tax for parks
Yes 5,431 26.98%
No 14,699 73.02%
JEFFERSON COUNTY 911 DISPATCH
First District
John R. Kozel 3,255 18.91%
Jim Terry 4,410 25.63%
Jamie Guinn 4,531 26.33%
John Whitehead 4,761 27.67%
Second District
Brian R. Taylor (I) 5,609 34.25%
John Thurman 4,450 27.17%
Andrew (Andy) Sides (I) 6,090 37.19%
DE SOTO SCHOOL DISTRICT
PROPOSITION K.I.D.S.
25-cent property tax increase and 25-cent tax shift
Yes 682 35.03%
No 1,265 64.97%
WINDSOR C-1 SCHOOL DISTRICT
Christina (Chris) Casey (I) 1,271 35.00%
Melanie Willis 987 27.18%
Charles Huey 565 15.56%
Kari Lynn Meece 773 21.29%
Proposition Windsor 2022
$20 million bond issue extension
(4/7ths majority required)
Yes 1,479 67.97%
No 697 32.03%
FOX C-6 SCHOOL DISTRICT
Three-year term
Kenneth Woolsey 3,304 22.49%
Todd Scott 3,513 23.91%
Brandon Williams 2,725 18.55%
Cathey “Break” Michalski 805 5.48%
Raymond “Curtiss” Frazier III 1,538 10.47%
Tara Hagin 2,750 18.72%
One-year unexpired term
Travis Lintner 2,941 39.55%
Vicki Hanson 3,433 46.16%
David Knoll 528 7.10%
Ryan Giesler 506 6.80%
NORTHWEST R-1 SCHOOL DISTRICT
Jeffrey M. Hanewinkel (I) 1,649 18.37%
Michelle Y. Coats 1,558 17.36%
Gary Bonacker (I) 2,690 29.97%
Don Bickowski 1,756 19.56%
Janice M. (Jan) Karsten 1,240 13.81%
GRANDVIEW R-2 SCHOOL DISTRICT
Three-year term
Timothy Brown (I) 312 28.01%
Brian Edward Dugan (I) 345 30.97%
Scott Alan Walker 108 9.69%
Terry Perren 341 30.61%
One-year unexpired term
Matthew James Tribout 40 6.25%
Robert Gearhart 265 41.41%
Heather Langhans-Bodnar 78 12.19%
Peter Faust 252 39.38%
HILLSBORO R-3 SCHOOL DISTRICT
Robert Kruse (I) 1,217 25.35%
Dale Scott 527 10.98%
Jaclyn Brown 1,045 21.77%
Jon Schuessler 1,046 21.79%
Chris Borgerson 935 19.48%
QUESTION NO. 1
40-cent tax shift
Yes 1,059 35.10%
No 1,958 64.90%
QUESTION NO. 2
$25 million bond issue
(4/7ths majority required)
Yes 1,407 46.48%
No 1,620 53.52%
DUNKLIN R-5 SCHOOL DISTRICT
Marissa C. Newman 504 27.44%
John A. Maddox IV (I) 449 24.44%
Jarred Engelbach 449 24.44%
Jackie Cody James Petero 410 22.32%
FESTUS R-6 SCHOOL DISTRICT
Richard Fadler (I) 937 22.35%
Tracy L. Anderson 583 14.03%
Joshua M. Martin 802 19.30%
Mary Renner 667 16.05%
Lisa Shepherd 405 9.74%
Eric Fjone 749 18.02%
JEFFERSON R-7 SCHOOL DISTRICT
Karen Koenig (I) 652 41.85%
Chris Hastings 604 38.77%
Lauren Kern 291 18.68%
MERAMEC VALLEY R-3 SCHOOL DISTRICT
Louis Vondera (I) 978 34.18%
Tim Richardson (I) 1,070 37.40%
Thomas Kent 813 28.42%
ROCKWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT
Amy Ryan 9,184 21.91%
Deborah Stine 9,280 22.14%
Izzy Imig 11,586 27.64%
Jessica Clark 9,961 23.76%
Charles Keith Messmer 1,911 4.56%
PROPOSITION P
54-cent tax shift
Yes 10,810 48.90%
No 11,298 51.10%
ARNOLD
City Council Ward 2
Billy Crow Jr. 304 48.64%
Brian K. McArthur (I) 319 51.04%
PROPOSITION P
Use tax
Yes 613 24.91%
No 1,848 75.09%
BYRNES MILL
PROPOSITION U
Use tax
Yes 184 44.34%
No 231 55.66%
CRYSTAL CITY
Mayor
Tom Schilly (I) 330 41.72%
Mike Osher 461 58.28%
PROPOSITION U
Use tax
Yes 400 51.02%
No 384 48.98%
DE SOTO
PROPOSITION U
Use tax
Yes 290 41.73%
No 405 58.27%
EUREKA
PROPOSITION U
Use tax
Yes 504 21.86%
No 1,802 78.14%
FESTUS
City Council Ward 1
John Chartrand 57 24.36%
Jim Collier 177 75.64%
PROPOSITION U
Use tax
Yes 640 43.16%
No 843 56.84%
HERCULANEUM
PROPOSITION U
Use tax
Yes 190 38.38%
No 305 61.62%
KIMMSWICK
PROPOSITION E
Uncontested elections waiver
Yes 15 60.00%
No 10 40.00%
PEVELY
PROPOSITION U
Use tax
Yes 240 39.67%
No 365 60.33%
SCOTSDALE
PROPOSITION 1
Uncontested elections waiver
Yes 22 51.16%
No 21 48.84%
CEDAR HILL LAKES
Board of Trustees
Timothy Gray (I) 16 32.00%
Zachariah Ravellette (I) 20 40.00%
Melanie Hudson 14 28.00%
DUNKLIN FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT
PROPOSITION P
5.4-cent tax increase for pensions
Yes 348 30.08%
No 809 69.92%
PROPOSITION S
25-cent tax increase
Yes 373 32.13%
No 788 67.87%
HILLSBORO FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT
Proposition Full-Time Staffing
35-cent tax increase
Yes 692 46.92%
No 783 53.08%
BIG RIVER AMBULANCE DISTRICT
PROPOSITION SAFETY
$17 million bond issue
(4/7ths majority required)
Yes 1,660 53.65%
No 1,434 46.35%
NORTH JEFFERSON COUNTY AMBULANCE DISTRICT
PROPOSITION SAFETY
$21 million bond issue
(4/7ths majority required)
Yes 1,687 54.99%
No 1,381 45.01%
ROCK TOWNSHIP AMBULANCE DISTRICT
Board of Directors
Lynne Ruzicka (I) 4,178 28.39%
Darla Kos 3,213 21.83%
Andrew West 4,421 30.04%
Paul D. Horn 2,810 19.10%
METRO WEST FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT
Proposition S
$25 million bond issue extension
(4/7ths majority required)
Yes 8,944 66.64%
No 4,478 33.36%