Christian County voters rejected the school nickel tax by a margin of 2-to-1 in Tuesday’s general election with 9,301 votes against the tax and 4,651 votes in favor, according to preliminary results from the county clerk’s office.
Supporters of the tax – which the Christian County Board of Education passed in February with plans to build new academic buildings at the county’s two public high schools – failed to win a single precinct in their campaign to overcome the recall vote.
“I think this is a very good thing for the community,” said Mark Graham, who led the effort to defeat the tax. His group, Citizens for the Right to Vote on Tax Increases, collected signatures on a petition that required a vote on the school board’s decision to pass the tax.
The community put its collective “foot down” to tell elected officials they won’t be taxed to death, Graham said.
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Superintendent Mary Ann Gemmill thanked the school board for its efforts and for volunteers who campaigned for the nickel tax.
“I think we took the high road,” Gemmill said.
School board chairwoman Linda Keller, who joined about 30 people at the central office to watch the election returns, said the opponents of the tax need to step up and explain what the school board should do next about the two aging high schools.
“I hope we see a very large crowd at the next school board meeting with their ideas,” Keller said.
Gemmill added, “We have to rest up and regroup.”
(This story will be updated.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
