A sign in support of the pool bond is shown on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022.

JOHN DAY — The second time did not turn out to be the charm for the pool bond. The $4 million property tax measure appeared to be failing in its second appearance on the ballot.

Measure 12-85 was going down by 78 votes, 1,108 to 1,030, in unofficial returns on Monday, Nov. 14.

The first vote in May resulted in an 802-802 tie, which meant the measure failed. That result led to a massive effort by bond supporters to prove the measure had enough backing within the community to justify putting it back on on the ballot just six months later.

Plans called for a six-lane, 25-yard pool suitable for competition to be built at the Seventh Street Complex in John Day to replace the old Gleason Pool, which was demolished this spring. The facility was to include a building with a lobby, locker rooms, restrooms, office space and a multipurpose room.

Ha d the bond passed, residents in the John Day/Canyon City Parks and Recreation District would have seen their property taxes rise by 70 cents for every $1,000 of assessed value over the 20-year life of the bond. A home valued at $150,000 would have seen its property taxes go up by $8.75 a month or $105 per year.

The bond measure’s failure also means the loss of $2 million in state grant funds the city of John Day was awarded to help with the project’s construction. The grant came with a “use it or lose it” time limit that required the city to identify a viable pool project to spend the money on by Jan. 15 of next year. The city has already expended $320,000 to cover preliminary design costs and will now have to repay that money from its own budget unless a new pool plan can be adopted by the deadline. 

Cost estimates for the construction of the pool have risen sharply over the past few months, now topping $7 million. City officials have been quick to point out that those numbers were estimates and that the price could have come in lower than that once firms began to bid on the project.

City officials were also quick to point out that despite rising construction costs associated with the pool project, the $4 million bond levy would not have increased to match those rising costs.

The failure of the bond on Nov. 8 closes the chapter on one of the most divisive ballot measures Grant County has seen since the hospital bond 20 years ago.

The political action committee supporting the pool, Friends of JDCC Parks and Rec, spent just over $13,000 in support of the bond during this election cycle. It is unclear how much money the PAC in opposition to the pool bond, Grant County for Fiscal Responsibility, spent in trying to defeat the bond this election cycle; as of Election Day, that organization had not reported any contributions or expenditures to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.