The tax on earned income would have cost someone making $30,000 annually about $300 a year.
The school is now expected to cut about $1.5 million to balance the district’s budget, according to Superintendent Kirk Koennecke.
MORE: FULL SPRINGFIELD NEWS-SUN ELECTION RESULTS
“This will lead to some really hard actions that we are going to have to take to make these cuts,” Koennecke said Tuesday night. “Cuts are going to have to happen to balance the budget.”
Expected cuts include changing the transportation model for the first time in district history, cutting about 15 classified staff members, raising participation fees and possibly more.
The Board of Education will have to make the final decision on the cuts, the superintendent said. The decisions will have to be made soon, he said.
“This is going to be a tough pill to swallow for many of us Falcons,” Koennecke said.
READ: Election 2017: Graham Local Schools income tax results
The income tax would’ve lasted five years and generated about $1.9 million. The district’s current budget is about $19 million.
Graham voters rejected a similar levy in November by a margin of 61 percent to 39 percent. Koennecke said the outcome was closer but still not enough.
“I think we ran a very strong campaign and we reached out to the public and we shared our need in the most transparent way we could,” he said.
Koennecke said there are no plans to go back on the ballot as of now.
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“It’s too soon to discuss a future levy,” he said. “We need to analyze the results as a community and figure out a better direction forward.”
Graham still has a big need, he said.
“I will say again, our need is very real, it did not go away with this levy failing,” Koennecke said.
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