Fontana Parcel Tax Defeated
With 52% Yes vote, the June 21st special election parcel tax for Fontana Unified School District has been defeated. The Fontana parcel tax measure did slightly better than the Hollister parcel tax held June 7th.
In March, the Fontana School Board voted 3-2 in favor of calling for the special election. Trustees Kathy Binks, Leticia Garcia, and Barbara Chavez supported the idea, while Sophia Green and Gus Hawthorn opposed it.
According to San Francisco-based firm Dale Scott and Co., the parcel tax “had the ingredients for success.”
An analysis prepared by the district showed that the tax had a chance of winning because there were relatively low number of Republicans living within the district boundaries (26 percent) in contrast to Democrats (51 percent). There were 52,370 registered voters in the district, the report said.
Fontana Unified School District was looking for a $96 annual assessment would have meant an extra $4 million a year from 39,962 parcels. The funds would have been directed primarily to three areas: counselors, library services and class size reduction, said Leticia Garcia, vice president of the school board.
Fontana Unified’s budget woes, which resulted in the school board’s controversial decision to terminate all 68 of the district’s counselors, was one of the driving forces in several efforts to seek additional funding.
This election was the first (school) parcel tax election in San Bernadino county in over 25 years.
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2 Comments on Fontana Parcel Tax Defeated
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Tim Prince on
Tue, 21st Jun 2011 8:20 pm
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MikeMcMahonAUSD on
Tue, 21st Jun 2011 8:39 pm
Correction on the last sentence: Several parcel tax measures have been on the ballot in San BernaRdino County during the last 25 years, including Measure S in the City of San Bernardino (1997) which was defeated with a NO vote of 70%.
Sorry for the misstatement. It is first parcel tax election for a school district in San Bernadino county in 25 years.
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