Aiken County voters nix school construction plan (AUDIO)

(Reported by Tony Baughman, affiliate WKSX)

 AUDIO: Tony Baughman reports (:35)

Voters in Aiken County said “no” to a multi-million dollar school bond plan that would have constructed a number of new public schools in the rapidly growing area. By a margin of more than two-to-one, Aiken County voters defeated the Board of Education’s $236 million school bond referendum to construct new schools, to replace aging facilities and remodel a number of other facilities.  Aiken area banker Barry Adams chaired the “Say Yes to Kids Grassroots Committee” that supported the referendum. He says he believed that the time was right to upgrade the schools.

I’m not sure that voters were not sending a message to Washington that taxes are just too high, that they were sending a message to Columbia perhaps. I’m not sure about why the vote was as strong as it was against the bond referendum.

Some supporters of the referendum say that if more voters had visited the schools, they would have seen that the construction and remodeling is sorely needed.

One of the leaders of the opposition to the referendum, Aiken real estate agent Jane Page Thompson says ultimately the vote was about the citizens of Aiken County taking control over spending and tax hikes.

We are no longer going to be ruled by special interest groups, the large corporations, or the federal government’s corporations that work here and are funded by federal dollars. This is an affirmation of the individual over big business. The North Augusta Chamber of Commerce and the greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce should check with their membership before they take a stand on an issue. They need to make sure that all their membership’s concerns are voiced to their entire membership instead of picking a special interest group and going with their opinion.

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS