Trustees and administrators at State Fair Community College are reviewing their next steps following the overwhelming defeat earlier this month of a proposed ten-cent increase for the school’s operating levy.

The levy’s defeat was a topic of discussion during last Thursday’s Board of Trustees’ meeting. President Dr Brent Bates says even as inflation has driven maintenance costs higher, SFCC continues to operate on a levy largely unchanged since the school opened nearly 60 years ago.

Bates says the college hosted nearly a dozen listening sessions across Pettis and Benton counties and spoke with 23 civic groups in the run-up to the Nov. 4 election. Over 65 percent of voters rejected the proposed increase, including just over two-thirds of Pettis County. Bates says SFCC will need to continue communicating the college’s needs, as well as the role it plays for the community as a whole.

Two maintenance items were also addressed at last week’s Board of Trustees meeting. The board approved the purchase of three rooftop air conditioning units for the Fielding Technical Center, and another unit for the E-Sports portion of the Fred W Davis Multipurpose Center. The two purchases total $97,848, with part of the cost for the three units at Fielding covered by state funding.