NORTH LOGAN – Despite a late summer furor over the approval of a 37.1 percent property tax increase by members of the Cache County School Board, local voters re-elected three of those members during balloting on Nov. 3.
Board chair Teri Rhodes and members Roger Pulsipher and Randall T. Bagley were re-elected with safe majorities.
In non-partisan balloting in District 7, Rhodes garnered 1,134 votes for 57 percent of the ballots cast in the school board election, defeating Mylind Fawcett by a 15 percent margin. Local voters gave Fawcett 847 ballots (42 percent).
Pulsipher also won re-election by an even stronger margin of victory in the board’s District 2. He earned 1,462 votes (61 percent), versus 929 ballots cast for Aaron C. Ritchey (39 percent).
Finally, Randall T. Bagley garnered 1,250 votes (55 percent) in District 4 to win re-election over Deidra Hartwell, who earned 996 votes (44 percent).
Those board members were part of a panel who faced nearly 40 concerned citizens during a state-mandated Truth-in-Taxation hearing on Aug. 7.
Many of the locals who spoke against the tax hike were older residents living on fixed incomes, who complained that the proposed 37.1 percent property tax increase was unsustainable. Others questioned whether the district had made good faith efforts at belt-tightening, pointing to bloated budgets for athletics and travel.
In other local school board balloting, voters sent Russell Fisher to the Logan City School Board in District 3 along with Karlee Fryer in District 5.
Fisher ran unopposed, collecting a total of 1,023 ballots, while Fryer earned 675 votes (57 percent) to defeat incumbent Cole Checketts who earned 491 votes (42 percent).