Grand County voters seemed in no mood Tuesday to voluntarily raise property taxes to fund a voted leeway proposed by the Grand County School District.

    Fifty-eight percent of the 1,246 voters who turned out during Tuesday's special election  voted against the proposed leeway. Only 20 percent of Grand County's registered voters went to the polls on Tuesday, said Grand County Clerk Diana Carroll.

    School district officials had asked Moab citizens to support the leeway, which would have raised about $985,000 in annual tax revenues to be used for districtwide maintenance and operational needs. The proposed leeway would have cost property owners about $76.12 for a home valued at $100,000 and $138.40 for a business with the same value.

    "We're disappointed and really surprised by the numbers," said Grand County School Board member Jim Webster. "We don't know what this means in terms of next school year. It's obvious that the needs are still there. They have not gone away. We'll do whatever we can in terms of finding resources, but it gets harder every year."

    For the past several weeks, school district officials presented their case to the public during community meetings, city and council meetings, and public forums, explaining that the money is needed to make up shortfalls in federal and state school funding for teachers and programs, and to bolster pay for administrative employees.

    School officials said the money would be used to help fund an additional math/science teacher at Grand County High School, a requirement to meet new state graduation criterion, and for which the Utah Legislature provided no funding. The leeway also would have provided funding for additional special education and English teachers at Red Rock Elementary and Helen M. Knight Intermediate School, and to increase pay for classified employees districtwide. The district board also hoped to raise pay for substitute teachers and restore positions and funding lost due to cost-cutting efforts and reductions in federal education spending. Some of the money also could have gone to support the district's BEACON after-school and tutoring programs and the Grand Area Mentoring programs.

    "We've got underpaid employees, and that's not going to change," Webster said. "We don't know what will happen with some programs. One of the goals is to get people educated and aware of the need. And we've done that now. The board hasn't talked yet about how we'll deal with this [in the future]."

    Margaret Hopkin, the incoming superintendent of Grand County Schools, said Tuesday night that while she is "disappointed" in the vote, she believes it also provides an opportunity for district officials to better inform the public about why the funding is needed.

    "I don't see this as a negative thing," Hopkin said. "It points to areas where we need to educate the public in a more thorough and systematic way."

    The tax hike, which would have represented the largest property tax increase in recent history, according to Grand County officials, sparked opposition from many who questioned why the school district waited until so close to the election to notify the public, and why so much money was needed. Opponents also noted that the voted leeway would provide a permanent tax increase. In the week leading up to the election, school district officials noted that the tax could be reduced or eliminated at any time should the funding no longer be needed.