Orion Township voters rejected a bond proposal for the library and both millage and bond proposals for the safety path system on Tuesday.
The library proposal failed by 264 votes (2,378 to 2,114 or 52.94% to 47.06%), while the safety path bond was voted down by over 900 votes (2,653 to 1,746, just more than a 60%/40% split).
The safety path millage renewal failed by just 18 votes (2,248 to 2,230). The safety paths have a history of close voting, with a millage passing by just 13 votes in 1988.
The last collection for the current millage will take place this December.
‘If it does not get renewed before December of 2008, there will be no millage in place,? Clerk Jill Bastian said.
The election had just under a 20% turnout among registered voters in the township (4,507 of 23,491 turned out to vote), a far cry from the near 50% last November.
Absentee ballots made up about 40% of the vote total, a fact that didn’t help either the library or safety paths.
‘It’s just a matter of people being uncertain about the future and the economy,? said Library Director Linda Sickles.
The library issue carried the precincts on Election Day by about 180 votes, but Sickles said the estimated 1117-674 vote against the proposal in absentee balloting was the difference.
‘The best you can usually hope for on a money issue is that the absentee ballots will be neutral,? she said.
Sickles said the library board would evaluate the situation and decide on how to proceed.
‘A lot depends on what happens with this area and the economy becoming stable,? she said, noting it will remain business as usual at the library in the meantime.
Sickles added that she was encouraged by the supportive things she heard in the weeks and months leading up to the election and knows the issue of the library needing more space won’t disappear.
The township’s 19.19% turnout was much higher than the county’s turnout (near 10%).