MISHAWAKA -- The 18 percent of registered voters who participated in the special election here Tuesday made a clear statement, Mishawaka Superintendent Terry Barker said: “They don’t want their taxes raised.

“It is what it is,” the superintendent said. But he has a message of his own: “I do have a concern at at least one school with a heating system,” he said of Hums Elementary. “If it goes out, we may have to close the building.”

Sixty-nine percent of the voters who came out shot down the district’s $28 million construction referendum.

For homeowners, it would have meant an extra $105 annually for a residence valued at $100,000.

Mike Wojtysiak headed up the anti-referendum political action committee noto28million.org.

After learning the results of the election Tuesday, he said, “They (district officials) miscalculated how many people live on a fixed income.”

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