By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Local elections were held throughout the St. Louis region Tuesday. Turnout was low.
A $9 million bond issue in the Washington, Mo. School District failed. Needing two-thirds approval, the vote got just 65% approval. Selling the bonds would have raised the cash needed to build new schools and fix old ones.
Voters in the district did, however, did approve raising their property taxes as a way to send the schools more money. That question needed just a simple majority and passed with 57%.
A plan to elect the Kirkwood city council from wards overwhelmingly failed. Council members are currently elected at-large and more than 5,400 voters, or 76%, essentially decided to keep it that way.
The city of Maryland Heights will get a little bigger, as well. Voters gave approval to annex land near the Page Avenue extension where about 1,600 people currently live. Only 157 voted against the annexation; 1,020 voted for it.
In other elections:
- The City of Ferguson will keep term limits on council members and the mayor; a proposition to remove them failed 58%-42%.
-Lincoln County voters narrowly approved raising sales tax in the county to pay for ambulance service. The vote was 1,318-1,212.
-Voters in Creve Coeur's Ward 4 picked Jeanne Rhoades over Steven Rosenberg to vill a vacancy on the council. Rhoades got 63% of the roughly 500 votes cast.
- The sales tax in Des Peres will go up 1/4% to help pay for the fire department. The vote was overwhelmingly (76%) in favor.
Municipalities where ballot questions were approved include:
Ballwin (all 8 questions)
Country Club Hills
Edmundson (both questions)
Greendale (both questions)
Marlborough (both questions)
Pacific
Pagedale
St. Ann
St. Clair
Vinita Park
Municipalities where ballot questions failed include:
Moline Acres (both questions)