Signage out front of the Dixon Unified School District offices on South First Street.

DIXON, CA (MPG) – For the second time in 14 years, Dixon-area voters have said no to a school bond.

Measure U, a $49 million general obligation bond placed on the ballot by the Dixon Unified School District Board of Trustees, is on pace to lose in the Nov. 3 election.

Measure U was losing handily, 54.46 percent to 45.54 percent, according to uncertified results through Nov. 6. Some 4,312 votes had been cast against the bond and 3,606 for. To pass, the measure would have required 55 percent of voters to approve it.

The totals have not been certified by the Solano County Registrar of Voters Office. In California, counties must count and report the results from most ballots by the 13th day after the election. The Secretary of State then certifies the results 38 days after the election.

Dixon voters also voted no on a school bond measure in 2012. They approved bonds in 2016 and 2002.

Rising inflation costs and an already-heavy tax burden contributed to the measure’s defeat.

Money from Measure U would have gone to repairing and upgrading aging classrooms, roofs, plumbing, technology and electrical infrastructure; upgrading disabled access; and installing security systems, fire alarms and fencing.

Dixon residents are already paying for bond measures passed in 2002 and 2016, respectively. Those bonds won’t be paid off until the 2040s.

 If passed, Measure U would have resulted in an estimated $30 tax increase per $100,000 of property for area residents. With the median sale price of a home in Dixon at approximately $640,000, that would have meant an additional $192 a year in property taxes.

That would have been tacked onto what residents are already paying for Measure J, the 2002 general obligation bond which raised $29.4 million, and Measure Q, the 2016 general obligation bond which secured $30.4 million. 

A Dixon-area home assessed at $640,000 already carries an annual property tax bill of more than $10,000.