DES MOINES, Iowa - A slim majority of the voters who headed to the polls Tuesday said no to a one-penny Polk County sales tax hike.
It went down to the wire for Altoona, Bondurant, Clive, Des Moines, Grimes, Johnston, Pleasant Hill, Urbandale, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights.
They needed to have 50 percent plus one vote in the "yes" column. 49.52 percent of the voters said "yes" and 50.38 percent said no. The vote was counted as one bloc, so the total vote in all those cities was counted together.
There were three communities who approved the local tax: Carlisle, Elkhart and Runnels. Alleman and Ankeny and the unincorporated part of Polk County all rejected it. In Granger it tied...at six votes "yes", six votes "no".
Each community had promised voters they'd use the tax proceeds for various purposes, including street, roads and other public improvement projects, promising it would go toward property tax relief.
Here's the final, unofficial tally from the Polk County election office.