Although voters on Tuesday rejected two proposals to change county government, the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce looks at the opening of discussions as a positive outgrowth of the campaign.
“I think a lot has already come out of this,” said Chamber President Jeanine McKenna. “We started discussions. We had great volunteers and great input from our membership.”
The Chamber had promoted changing the current three-member county commission to a five-member body and adding a county manager to oversee operations of county government.
This morning, Lyon County Commission Chairman Marshall Miller said he thought voters were confused.
“I think there was a lot of discomfort,” Miller said. “There was a lot of information that was confusing.”
Chamber representatives spoke about the two issues at community, civic, and club meetings around the county in an effort to let residents know why they thought the changes were good decisions for a multi-million-dollar business — county government — and not about individuals involved in that government.
“We tried very hard not to make it a city-versus-rural issue,” McKenna said.
But unofficial election returns make it clear the voters saw the issue in those terms. Both questions were soundly defeated in the rural precincts. In fact, only one precinct — No. 29 west of Emporia — voted in favor of one question. In that precinct, 51 percent of voters approved adding two commissioners to the board.
In contrast, Precinct 21 around Allen showed the largest opposition to both questions. In a 75 to 25 percent split, voters there rejected adding commissioners; they defeated a county administrator by an 81 to 19 percent tally.
The rural voters picked up support from Emporia residents. For both questions, the 20 precincts within the city limits were evenly split with 10 precincts approving the initiatives and 10 rejecting them. The largest support for expanding the commission came in northwest (Precinct 20) and the C of E area (Precinct 14). As for a county administrator, the seventh precinct around Emporia State University showed the strongest support.
For both questions, voters in Precinct 6, in southwest Emporia, were soundly opposed.
Lyon County Commissioner Myron VanGundy said today the public made its decision based on their knowledge of the issues.
“I think the public was more astute to the issues,” he said. “I think the (community) up and realized that our operation was ahead of (the Chamber’s proposal) by years.”
Still, McKenna sees room for further discussion.
“I really feel the discussions will continue,” she said. “That was our hope from the start, let’s have the people of Lyon County decide. Even though these two issues didn’t pass ... I think this is just the beginning, and a very good beginning for everyone.”
The ballot questions brought a bit of good news for the county’s budget. County Controller Dan Slater said this morning that the more than $200,000 budgeted for the two extra commissioners and a county administrator will serve as extra money in the 2007 budget.
“Which is a nice feeling,” Slater said. “When you budget for things and you don’t spend it, that’s a good thing.”
Slater said the money will help lower taxes in the 2008 budget.
johnsie (anonymous) says...
Commissioner Miller makes it sound like the reason the "NO's" won was because they were not smart enough to know what they were voting on. Shame on you!
November 8, 2006 at 8:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
under_score (anonymous) says...
The Lyon County Commission should not take this as the people accepting our current tax rate. Both the City and County tax rates are unacceptably high and wasteful. We need to get someone in office who will take a good look at every single current expense as well as proposed expenses and start cutting fat and creating efficiency. The people of Lyon county trimmed $200,000 off of the 2007 budget. Now let's see if the commission can match that. Every year they should be looking at ways to reduce.
November 9, 2006 at 7:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )