Voters in the Becker School District turned out in higher-than-average numbers to approve two of the three questions on the referendum ballot in the Tuesday election. A total of 1,929 ballots were cast at the polling place in Becker High School, significantly more that the results of the last “off year” election in 2009, which drew 1,366 to the polls in Becker, according to Supt. Dr. Stephen Malone.

 

Voters approved the all-important Question One by a vote of 1,197 yes to 732 no votes in the contest.  Approval of that question would generate around $1.4 million dollars, which would allow the district to “maintain existing student programs for the next 10 years and avoid major budget reductions, which would otherwise have to be considered in the spring of 2016,” according to documents sent to district voters by the district.  If the first question had been rejected by the voters, the next two questions would also have failed.

 

Becker voters also approved Question Two on the ballot by a vote of 1,080 to 847.  That question would return a number of student programs that have been eliminated in recent years due to budget constraints.

 

Question Three, which would have provided facility upgrades such as parking lots, roofs, heat pumps and a multi-purpose turf field for sports use, failed after 881 residents voted in favor of the measure and 1,047 did not.

 

After the votes were in on Tuesday night, Malone said he and the district were “honored to have the support of the community” as reflected by the election results.