Fewer Voters Turn Out for Second West Bloomfield Schools Sinking Fund Election

About 16 percent of West Bloomfield School District's 25,740 registered voters turned out to vote on Tuesday's sinking fund millage, which passed by a 190-vote margin. 

By comparison, the November 2011 school board election drew 19 percent of registered voters, and the last sinking fund millage request, on the ballot with the presidential and state-wide elections in November of 2012, failed by more than 800 votes with about three-quarters of registered voters going to the polls. 

West Bloomfield Patch reader Richard Goldman, commenting on Facebook, called the turnout percentage "horribly low." 

"The major problem here in this economy is that so many homes are now abject worthless that homeowners can nary afford an increase let alone being able to make ends meet," he wrote. "While it makes sense, it also makes little sense to pass this today."

"As a recent graduate of the WB school district, and a voter in the election today, I am very glad that this millage passed," Facebook fan Emily Sitron wrote. 

The 14-year, 1.25-mill levy proposal will add $125 per year to the property tax bill on a home with a taxable value of $100,000, starting July 1, 2013. (If your home has an assessed value of $200,000, it has a taxable value of $100,000.) 

The $30.25 million raised will be used primarily on upgrades or repairs to all eight of the district's K-12 buildings. 

Here are unofficial precinct by precinct results and voter turnout, as reported by the Oakland County clerk's office: 

What do you think about Tuesday's election results and turnout? Tell us in a comment.