Voters approve NTCC Prop 2, decline Prop 1

Northeast Texas Community College confirmed Wednesday that Proposition One failed by 327 votes. However, final tallies from county election officials showed that Proposition Two passed by four votes.

Proposition One dealt with restructuring NTCC's tax cap and would grant the college the ability to pay back debt. Proposition Two authorized the college to issue $19.9 million in bonds to repair the 30-year-old NTCC campus.

?This leaves the college with the authority to issue bonds, but no way to pay them back,? Dr. Brad Johnson, NTCC President, said. ?The board will meet next Monday to canvass the election and consider its options.?

Voting totals were as follows:

Camp County

Proposition 1:

For:†1,034

Against: 1,141

Proposition 2:

For: 1,045

Against: 1,136

Morris County

Proposition 1:

For:†1,223

Against: 1,407

Proposition 2:

For: 1,272

Against: 1,360

Titus County

Proposition 1

For:†2,262

Against: 2,298

Proposition 2

For:†2,377

Against: 2,194

Total Votes:

Proposition 1

For:†4,519

Against: 4,846

Proposition 2

For:†4,694

Against: 4,690

"If we have learned anything from this election, it is that every single vote counts," Johnson said. "We are very pleased that voters in our district have approved Proposition Two. Since Proposition One did not pass, we still have work to do. However, this tells us that the community recognizes our needs and supports repairing our facilities."

The next opportunity for the college to put the tax cap issue before voters will be in May 2015.

"We are getting feedback from the community that Proposition One was confusing and unclear to voters. Our board will be addressing this soon and we will evaluate the next steps. Ultimately, our goal is to come up with a plan that addresses our campus needs in a way that our district is comfortable with and can stand behind," Johnson said.