WEST FARGO – School district voters here overwhelmingly approved a $98.1 million bond referendum Tuesday, giving the OK to two new elementary schools, a new indoor ice rink and a community aquatic center. In complete but unofficial results, 80 percent of voters approved of the bond issue to 20 percent against. Superintendent David Flowers drew in a sigh of relief Tuesday evening after learning of the landslide outcome. “I’m just overwhelmed by how positive these results are,” Flowers said to a crowd of about 30 residents who filled the district’s Leidel Education Center on Tuesday night. “As you know it’s a heavy lift in North Dakota, it has to be 60 percent [to pass].” Voter turnout Tuesday was 6,064, lower than the last bond issue passed in 2011, which 70 percent of 7,420 voters approved. A total of 4,831 votes were cast Tuesday in favor of the bond issue, with 1,233 people voting against it. School officials decided in September to ask voters to approve the bond. It will fund a slate of additions and renovations to current schools as well as two new elementary schools – one north of Interstate 94 and one south of I-94. More than one-third of the spending will go toward big-ticket recreational amenities, a $18.5 million community aquatic center and a $16.5 million two-sheet ice facility.

Polling site Yes votes No votes Total votes Percentage Aurora Elementary 535 79 614 87.13% Harwood Comm.Center 152 120 272 55.88% Horace Senior Center 318 95 413 77% Sheyenne High 1135 209 1344 84.45% Veterans Mem. Arena 1943 481 2424 80.16% Westside Elementary 635 203 838 75.78% Absentee 113 46 159 71.07% Totals 4831 1233 6064 79.67%

Flowers said the additions are needed to keep up with an exploding student population. The district expects to grow by 60 percent in the next 10 years.

Flowers and the School Board had waited for Tuesday’s vote results in anticipation because unlike the 2011 bond, which exclusively paid for additional classroom space, Tuesday’s referendum included activity amenities, which can be a harder sell to the community, Flowers said.

“I don’t know what the Las Vegas odd-setters would do with this kind of scenario, but I bet they would not (have bet) what we just saw,” Flowers said.

Other school leaders also heralded the vote’s results.

“I’m proud to be part of a community that puts students’ education first, and they showed that tonight,” said Lisa K. Dullum, president of West Fargo Education Association.

“West Fargo School District is different tonight after the way we just voted,” School Board member Dave Olson said.

Many school bond issues come hand-in-hand with a property tax increase, but district officials said the plan approved Tuesday night won’t mean more taxes. The city’s growth, rising home values and the retirement of existing debt is expected to keep the mill levy steady. The current property tax rate levies about $133 per year on a $100,000 home.

No organized opposition group formed to challenge the borrowing plan, which required 60 percent approval to pass. Supporters were easy to find at the polls Tuesday.

Sara Frith and Anna Hettenbaugh, West Fargo High School graduates and residents of the district, said they approved of including the pool and ice facilities in the bond.

Frith said as a parent of two sons who play hockey, she sees the need for youth facilities.

“We just need it for our community,” she said.

Hettenbaugh said her child attends L.E. Berger, and she thinks the updates to the school and pool there are needed.

Carolyn Amundson retired from teaching after 32 years in the West Fargo School District. “I know what it’s like being a teacher and not having the room,” Amundson said Tuesday at Westside Elementary.

Though Cavin Berube does not have children, he said he cast his ballot Tuesday as a way of looking out for West Fargo’s future generations. Berube said he wants to see the district continue to be a progressive community.

Plans for the new community aquatics center will depend somewhat on private fundraising. The community group UP Aquatics has been trying to raise $4 million to enhance the aquatic facility and include a 66-meter sized pool rather than the planned 52-meter size.

UP Aquatics lead fundraiser Karen Nitzkorski said Tuesday the group has raised just shy of $2.6 million so far. Nitzkorski said the group plans to continue fundraising until it hits the $4 million mark, but it likely has enough at this time to help pay for the larger pool size.

The 2011 bond issue approved $82 million in borrowing to turn Sheyenne 9th Grade Center into a second high school and build Liberty Middle School and Freedom, Independence and Legacy elementary schools.

Despite putting two bond referendums on the ballot in the past four years, the district may return to voters in a few years and ask for funding to build a third high school and third middle school.

Earlier this year, a 40-person community group identified a $200 million wish list of projects for the district to accommodate growth but decided to break the bond referendum into two parts.

While Flowers initially expected a second bond to come as soon as 2017, he is now focusing on current district needs.

The School Board will hold a workshop at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Leidel Education Center to discuss the bond results.

Flowers said by spring, six of the projects will begin construction, including the pool, hockey arena and the southside elementary school.

The election’s outcome will be official after votes are canvassed Monday.

Projects at a glance

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Construction would start in 2016 on:

• $13.75 million new elementary school in the Brooks Harbor area;

• $18.5 million pool and a remodel of the existing L.E. Berger pool;

• $7.3 million additions to West Fargo High School, including an auxiliary gym, multi use space and other classroom additions;

• $4.4 million addition to L.E. Berger Elementary School and additions that will start at a later date;

• $16.5 million ice facility.

Projects to start in 2017 and 2018 include:

• $15.4 million three-section north side elementary school;

• $2.25 conversion of Osgood Kindergarten Center to a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school

• $2 million addition to Horace Elementary School;

• $7 million transportation facility and central maintenance building;

• $1.75 million central kitchen;

• $1.1 million musical space addition to Cheney Middle School.

Ongoing projects will be:

• $525,000 standardizing and upgrading all elementary playgrounds;

• $1 million increased security measures;

• $145,000 upgrade to sound systems.