No and No -- Voters Feeling Frugal

Straight from KJAM:

Transfer of $100,000 from city electric fund to school for electric upgrades

Ward 1 Yes 396 - 51.36% No 375 - 48.64%
Ward 2 Yes 191 - 43.12% No 252 - 56.88%
Ward 3 Yes 97 - 34.77% No 182 - 65.23%

684 - 45.81% Yes (Money will be transferred from city to school)
809 - 54.19% No (Money will NOT be transferred from city to school)

Madison High School Gym Resolution

Ward 1 Yes 386 - 50.06% No 385 - 49.94%
Ward 2 Yes 208 - 43.43% No 240 - 53.57%
Ward 3 Yes 109 - 39.07% No 170 - 60.93%
Rural Yes 210 - 33.82% No 411 - 66.18%

913 - 43.09% Yes (Gymnasium will be built)
1206 - 56.91 % No (Gymnasium will NOT be built)

Not seeing anything to the contrary, I'm assuming these are final results. Not bad turnout for a snowy day with no candidates on the ballot.

Note that the bond issue to build the new gym required a 60% majority. Even in the apparently least fiscally conservative Ward 1, the measure received only the smallest possible majority, 50% + 1. A friend of mine told me local politics isn't about philosophy. It apparently isn't about slick brochures and fancy websites, either. Is Madison really this impervious to a professional marketing campaign?

The rural vote appears not to have been deterred by the bad weather. (This correspondent went in the ditch on the way to work this morning, thanks to the unseasonable slush that's been falling all day.) Evidently a few slick miles of road won't stop our farmers from getting to town to save themselves from a $1500-a-year tax increase.

Matt G. commented earlier that the athletic supporters had a plan to "aggressively pursue funds through donations, advertisements, naming rights, etc." and apply those funds toward paying down the debt. If that's the case, why didn't the gym promoters say so sooner? And given their loss tonight and the urgency of doing the project now to avoid rising construction costs, will the gym promoters follow through with those fundraising plans and see how far they can get with private dollars?

This correspondent will, alas, be in school all week and Pierre Friday and Saturday (State Student Congress!) and thus miss all the good coffee talk. The Madville Times thus welcomes any and all Wednesday-morning quarterbacking on the election. How'd you vote, and why? Why do you think the vote went the way it did? What's next for the gym promoters? Is Madison really a bunch of cynical tightwads, or are we just showing some conservative fiscal sense? Post your thoughts here!