BRYAN, Texas — Bryan ISD will not get the tax increase it asked for to boost employee pay after voters in the district defeated Proposition A on Tuesday by a margin of 5,939 votes.
The voter-approval tax rate election drew 19,591 no votes, or 58.9%, against 13,652 yes votes, or 41.1%. The measure would have raised the maintenance and operations rate by about 2 cents, from $0.6769 to $0.6968 per $100 of valuation.
When trustees called the election, board President Joel Bryan pledged that the district would be open and clear about what the increase would cost taxpayers. District leaders had estimated the change would bring in about $5.5 million a year. Because that revenue would not have been subject to state recapture, the district would have kept all of it.
Most of the money was aimed at teacher and staff salaries. With the measure defeated, pay stays at the levels set in the compensation plan trustees approved over the summer.
Voters also settled the only contested Bryan ISD board race. Chris Cartwright is the projected winner of the District 2 seat, with 2,505 votes, about 58%, to 1,790 for David Sessum in updated unofficial Brazos County returns. The seat opened when Julie Harlin-Wolf chose not to run again.
The same ballot carried a city charter amendment calling for removal of the Texas Avenue medians in Bryan, which passed with more than 78% support.
More than 56,000 Brazos County voters cast ballots during the Oct. 19-30 early voting window. Results stay unofficial until they are canvassed.
Filed under: College Station TX Politics News
