Voters reject renewing income tax for Van Wert schools

VAN WERT — In a rare event, voters in Van Wert City School District rejected a ballot issue renewing a 1 percent income tax.The issue failed with 48.6 percent voting for it. The vote was 1,970 for, 2081 against.District officials said they will try again in November.Superintendent Ken Amstutz was upbeat after the defeat. He knew the district faced a challenge getting community support after the new high school building project was completed over budget.We needed to find out where we we’re at,” he said. “It’s disappointing it didn’t pass. We knew it was close. We have some work to do but we’ll get there.”Amstutz said funding will not be interrupted if the tax is passed in November. “I think people are seeing some good things,” he said. We need to pursue that more. I think they are asking for us to probably make some cuts and make some changes and we’ll do that. We’ll get the word out and find out what we’re doing wrong and correct that.”Before the issue went on the ballot, the school board looked at a 1.25 percent income tax with earned income tax credit to limit the financial impact on senior citizens and others on fixed incomes. That issue will be revisited, Amstutz said.“That is something we are really going to have to find out about,” he said.In the contested county commissioner primary, incumbent Gary Adams defeated county 911 Coordinator Kim Brandt with 55.9 percent of the vote. The vote was 2,567 for Adams and 2,027 for Brandt.“I appreciate the fact that I can still serve the county,” Adams said. “Kim’s done a good job. I appreciate her efforts. I think it was a good campaign on both sides.”Brandt is happy with the votes she got and knew it would have been tough to defeat Adams.“I knew it was a big, big challenge,” she said. “This was something for the future. I hopefully will be a county commissioner in the future.”In the Clerk of Courts race Cindy Mollenkopf defeated Susan Wehage with 57.6 percent of the vote. The numbers were 2,615 for Mollenkopf and 1,922 for Wehage.Mollenkopf said both candidates were qualified to replace outgoing clerk Carol Speelman.She said she hopes to begin receiving some training as she prepares for the job. The challenge will be upgrading the computer system and replacing some staffers who are leaving, she said. Voters also approved an issue permitting Sunday liquor sales in the shopping center north of U.S. Route 30.