Second time's the charm for Westonka schools

After rejecting a levy and bond proposal last year, Westonka School District residents approved an $877,000-a-year, 10-year operating levy on Tuesday by a slim margin -- 2,154 to 2,052.

But the voters also elected two school board members who had criticized the levy, and one of them vowed Wednesday to fight to keep as much of the new money as possible in reserve.

"We're going to hold them to the $300,000 they need and put the rest into a reserve fund," said Tom Notch, who won one of the four seats up for election on the seven-member board.

Notch and Gary Hejna -- two of the three candidates who had blasted the levy as a "maximum grab" attempt -- were victorious, and their running mate, Ray Salazar, came in fifth in the field of eight candidates, finishing just 14 votes behind Notch.

"We didn't get all three of us in, but we got two of us in, and that's huge," Notch said. Phone lines at the Notches' Minnetrista home were tied up Wednesday with calls from well-wishers.

During the 2006 election, Notch -- a self-employed structural engineer who sends his son to parochial school -- led a successful campaign against a proposed $58 million bond and a $480-per-pupil operating levy referendum. The bond was defeated by a 2-1 margin.

"It's a David and Goliath thing," Notch said about this year's election. "We used recycled banners from last year."

Incumbent Ann Bremer was the top vote-getter with 2,126 votes. Hejna was second with 1,935, while David Botts, another incumbent, came in third with 1,902 votes, and Notch had 1,861.

Westonka Superintendent Kevin Borg thanked voters Wednesday morning.

"We accept the responsibility of seeing that schools use these dollars to achieve the most effective and efficient results possible," Borg said.

Other notable west metro elections:

• Farther west, Delano's $700,000-a-year, 10-year operating levy won approval by a mere four votes: 1,343 to 1,339.

But there's a catch.

Problem is, the district did not win approval for the $29 million elementary school the levy would have paid to operate. So the district will have to try again for the construction money.

But if the school does eventually get funded, the operating money still will be available.

"We got part of the job done," Delano Superintendent John Sweet said. "Now we have to continue to get the message out [about enrollment growth]."

Sweet said Delano's elementary, middle and high schools are all at capacity. Delano's enrollment has increased by almost 400 students since 2002.

• Veteran Minnetonka school board member Bill Wenmark was pushed out of his seat by three challengers.

Incumbent Cal Litsey and newcomers Lisa Wagner, Karen Walkowski and Paul Luehr won the four board seats up for election.

In recent weeks, Wenmark was at the center of a controversy about his representation of his affiliation with the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He declined to be interviewed for this article.

Minnetonka residents also approved a plan to direct $3.8 million more a year into operations by pulling that amount from the district's long-term maintenance budget.

School officials said they would finance future construction projects rather than paying for them up front. The move is expected to have little or no impact on property taxes.

Voters also approved the renewal of a $5 million-a-year technology levy. Both measures will last for 10 years.

"This is a short-term fix to a long-term problem," the district spokeswoman, Janet Swiecicowski, said. The state still doesn't have an adequate revenue source for education, she said.

Patrice Relerford • 612-673-4395

Patrice Relerford • prelerford@startribune.com