Spring election: Iola-Scandinavia

Village of Scandinavia

Incumbents Michael Hayes and Daniel Koehler were re-elected to the village board, defeating challenger Michael Schroder.

Village of Iola

Incumbent village trustees David Harper and Pamela Parks were re-elected, while Mike Richberg was also elected to the village board, defeating Erikka Flowers, Mark McCoy and Jason Woyak.

Iola-Scandinavia School Board

School board incumbents Laura Krogwold and Vanessa Kirmse were re-elected with no challengers.

Iola-Scandinavia referendum

A non-recurring referendum that would have allowed the Iola-Scandinavia School District to exceed the state revenue limit to raise $1.6 million next year and about $2 million annually over the following three years failed by a margin of 176 votes.

District administrator Chris Nelson said in a statement that he’s disappointed that the referendum failed but he respects voters’ decision.

“The reality is that our budget deficit will not be going away – we will need to make difficult cuts to align our spending with available revenue,” he said. “Moving forward, we'll be exploring the reasons for this outcome and working to understand what future non-recurring operational referendums might be acceptable to our community. Our focus remains on maintaining educational quality for our students while being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”