Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Mayor John Jaeger and the Tekoa City Council have decided to run their $50,000 street levy proposal again in February after it failed, for the second time, in the Nov. 8 General Election.
Final count for the proposal was 58.7 percent approval with 202 yes and 142 no.
The proposal was intended to pay for city road maintenance, including streetlights.
“It’s streets and lights, come on,” said Jaeger. “If you’re not gonna vote for it, or not vote, tell us why. We just need an answer and we’re not getting an answer.”
One theory the mayor suggests is residents are concerned about the cost of future sewer plant improvements.
“That’s one theory,” he said. “Another is that I p***ed a few people off. ... There’s just no way you can administer anything without making some people upset. I don’t know if this was a large number or not.”
The mayor and council will now look at voting returns from Nov. 8 and talk to the people who voted and see what they might find out.
The records will show who cast a ballot, but not which way an individual voted.
The levy also failed in November of 2015.
For now, the mayor’s intention is to keep the proposal the same for February.
“I’m just not ready to throw in the towel on this,” he said. “If it fails again, then we’ll have to look at changes.”
Last November, after the levy failed, city council subsequently decided not to file for another in February 2016, citing a potential conflict with a schools levy.
Funds for the most recent street levy would have been collected at a rate of $1.64 per thousand dollars in property valuation. For the 2015 levy, the rate was $1.85 per thousand.
“You have a vision for your community; get rid of gravel streets,” said Jaeger. “If we can do four or five blocks of pavement and sidewalks, I’d hate to not do that.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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