<strong><span class="subhead">Belton</span></strong></p><p>Belton voters, by a 72 percent margin, decided against a takeover of the city&rsquo;s park department.</p><p>Mayor Jimmy Odom and some City Council members proposed to change the city&rsquo;s charter to allow the council to take control of the parks. Elected officials should have final say, they argued, not an appointed board.</p><p>Board members countered the department worked best without political intrusion.</p><p>Residents approved $3.5 million in revenue bonds to make improvements to the city&rsquo;s wastewater treatment plant and to fund the cost of operation and maintenance of the sewer system.</p><p>The proposal required a simple majority; it received 71 percent.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Center schools</span></strong></p><p>Voters in the Center School District in south Kansas City approved a $6.5 million bond issue for building improvements such as roof repairs and energy-efficient windows and updates to the district&rsquo;s computer and telephone systems.</p><p>The measure, which will refinance existing bonds, garnered 77 percent of the vote, 1,966 to 584. It needed a little more than 57 percent to pass.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Clay County tax</span></strong></p><p>Clay County residents voted overwhelmingly to extend a one-eighth-cent law enforcement sales tax. Unofficial returns showed the tax passed with more than 70 percent of the vote, 8,023 to 3,303.</p><p>The tax, approved in 1998, has been used to expand the Clay County Detention Center, hire staff, complete renovations and improve jail operations. It generates about $3.2 million a year and was set to expire in 2010.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Liberty smoking ban</span></strong></p><p>Liberty voters overwhelming passed stricter limits on smoking that replaces a city measure approved earlier this year. The vote was 70 percent for to 29 percent opposed.</p><p>The new ban limits smoking to hotels and motels that permanently designate up to 25 percent of their rooms for smokers, outdoor patios and designated areas of city parks. The city&rsquo;s measure allowed smoking in some bars, smaller restaurants, bowling alleys and billiard parlors.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">North Platte schools</span></strong></p><p>A $6 million bond issue won approval in the North Platte County R-1 School District. The measure required four-sevenths of the vote &mdash; a little more than 57 percent &mdash; to pass, and it received 57.3 percent. The money will be used to build and equip a 32,000-square-foot intermediate school in Edgerton.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Peculiar</span></strong></p><p>Peculiar voters decided three issues Tuesday. </p><p>Question 1 failed, with 73 percent of the voters rejecting it. It asked for a 20-cent increase to the city&rsquo;s tax levy per $100 of assessed valuation. The money would have been used for sewer improvements.</p><p>Question 2 failed with 56 percent of the voters rejecting it. It asked that a 1-cent fuel tax be imposed on each gallon of gas and diesel sold in the city. The money would have been used for street improvements. The issue required a two-thirds majority.</p><p>Question 3 passed with 57 percent of the vote. It requires a $1,000 annual business license for rock quarries and mining operations. Companies also would be required to pay a 40-cent fee per ton of limestone sold or physically removed from the city. A simple majority was required.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">River Bend</span></strong></p><p>Voters in River Bend, a small Jackson County community, approved a $300,000 revenue bond issue to upgrade the town&rsquo;s waterworks infrastructure. Trustees of the community want to attract more development to the approximately 1,200-acre area just north of the Missouri River, between Sugar Creek and Liberty.