A referendum to enact a local-option sales tax in Story County to repair school infrastructure failed Tuesday by a slim margin of only 38 votes.

The measure, which required a simple majority to pass, received 5,020 “no” votes and 4,982 “yes” votes with all precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the county auditor’s office Tuesday evening.

The proposal would have increased the sales tax in Story County from 6 percent to 7 percent, a move that ISU economist Ken Stone said would have generated about $86 million for school improvements in the next 10 years.

Mary Jane Bastiaans, member of the Ames School Board, said she was disheartened if the percentages hold true, which she said might be questionable considering how close the final results were.

“If that’s the way the percentages turn out, I guess I’m really disappointed,” she said. “I expected it to be close, but I expected it to be close in the positive mode.”

Mary Ann Lundy, treasurer of Story County Lots for Kids Committee, a group that supported the passage of the referendum, said she also expected it to be a close vote.

Lundy said she would be interested in seeing from which parts of the county the opposition came because she believed the purpose of the sales tax had not been conveyed effectively in Ames.

“I think in Ames the issue was being muddied by whether people supported or didn’t support what they were going to use the money for,” she said. “It really wasn’t the issue, but it was brought into it.”

Lundy said she was particularly sorry for students in the Nevada and Gilbert school districts, as she believed those districts were the most in need of new construction and renovation.

Government of the Student Body senator Steve Skutnik, LAS, voted in favor of a Feb. 2 GSB bill that expressed opposition to the local-option sales tax. He said he was pleased with the results of Tuesday’s vote.

“Personally, I’m glad they shot it down because if Ames really needs money for their schools, I would whole-heartedly support a bond issue,” he said.

Skutnik said a bond issue would have been better because it allows for “stricter, more closely guarded control of the money.”

“The sales tax was not the best option for Ames schools or the city of Ames’ taxpayers,” he said. “I think residents realized that the sales tax is not appropriate right now.”