READING — Voters in the Reading Community Schools District narrowly defeated a ballot proposal for an operating millage during Tuesday’s Presidential Primary Election that saw 8,321 of Hillsdale County’s 31,075 registered voters cast a ballot.

Reading’s operating millage gathered 426 votes in favor of passing the millage and 467 votes against it.

The millage hike also failed in August 2023 when the district asked for a 1.5 mills increase the first time.

The increased tax funding would have provided an additional $30,400 in funding for this school year and was requested to restore millage funding lost as a result of the reduction required by the Michigan Constitution’s Headlee Amendment.

Voters in the Camden-Frontier School District overwhelmingly voted in favor of an operating millage renewal with 394 votes in favor and 234 votes against.

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Former President Donald Trump garnered 77.04-percent of the Republican vote Tuesday (5,118 votes) while leading competitor Nikki Haley took 18.40-percent of the Republican vote.

President Joseph Biden was the Hillsdale County Democrat’s choice with 84.58-percent of the vote (1,241) with other Democratic candidates in the primary gathering less than 100 votes each in Hillsdale County.

— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Reading schools operating millage fails at ballot