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Election 2007: Time for change

Read all stories related to Election Day results

2007 Election, How Routt County voted

Precinct by precinct breakdown of how Routt County voted

Steamboat Springs — The South Routt School District will receive money for new boilers at two schools and for its general fund after voters passed Referendums 3A and 3B by a wide margin Tuesday.

Early voting - which had a strong turnout - and initial precinct results showed both referendums passing by a nearly 3-to-1 margin.

"It's very gratifying to know the voters have supported this effort and gratifying to have the funds to go forward to help the students and secure the future of the district," Superintendent Kelly Reed said Tuesday night. "I'd like to thank all the people involved in the campaign and involved behind the scenes doing all the hard work getting our message out and getting people to understand the importance of where we were."

Referendum 3B, which will help district officials replace antiquated coal-fired boilers at South Routt schools, received 73 percent of the votes in early returns.

"(The boilers) were installed in 1970, and at that point they were already 20-year-old architecture," Reed said during the campaign. "So they are about a 50-year-old design, with 40-year usage."

In July, the district received a $1.57 million Capital Co nstruction Grant from the Colorado Department of Education to help replace the boilers at the high school, middle school and South Routt Elementary School in Yampa. The grant is contingent upon the district raising an additional $1.57 million in matching funds.

Referendum 3B guarantees those matching funds through a property tax increase.

Reed said work on the boilers would begin in the spring and finish before the 2008-09 school year.

Referendum 3A, which received 71 percent of the vote, also allows a property tax increase and will help the district combat a steady decline in student enrollment, which Reed said has created a significant loss of state revenue. The declining enrollment has caused the gradual dismissal of six teachers and five paraprofessionals in recent years, along with a reduction in the number of extracurricular activities.

Medical expenses also have increased as much as 18 percent per year and fuel costs have nearly doubled for the school district, Reed said.