The City of Scottsdale really did us a giant favor by purchasing the “twin peaks” that form part of the McDowell Mountain range to our west.

It’s easy to assume by looking westward that the McDowells are all in Fountain Hills and they are all part of a public preserve – thereby guaranteeing “forever views” and no building development.

Not true.

It’s akin to glancing north and thinking that land just beyond the Fountain Hills Middle School is part of McDowell Mountain Regional Park and will remain slightly-touched desert forever.

Not true.

I realize it encompasses different funding packages and varying groups and efforts on both sides of the issues, but it’s insightful to see the City of Scottsdale plunk down $21.3 million for the state trust land in the McDowells and yet its voters just rejected a giant $212.1 million bond package to pay for 39 public projects and improvements.

Voters in the Scottsdale Unified School District also narrowly turned down a 15 percent budget override to support all-day kindergarten, smaller class sizes and specialty programs.

The measure failed by less than 1 percent of voters.

This marks the second straight year that Scottsdale voters rejected a school override.

In Maricopa County, 27 out of 37 bond and override measures passed. Some 11 school districts had to return to the ballot after a failed initiative last year.

Both Scottsdale school and city officials will have to go back to their SmartBoards to figure out new plans (and more cuts for Scottsdale schools).

The measures in Fountain Hills had a different outcome, of course, as voters here generously supported the town road bond to reconstruct Saguaro Blvd. ($8.2 million).

And Fountain Hills Unified School District officials are breathing a sigh of relief and won’t have to go before voters again next year, as the override and bond package both narrowly passed.

With a smaller community like ours, the old adage of “every vote counts” certainly rings truer here. We had a 43 percent turnout, which isn’t spectacular, but still rather good when compared to many other municipalities.

Those backing the school measures were sweating bullets a few days prior to the election deadline, as early statistics were showing a large percentage of senior citizens already having returned their ballots but a significant minority of parent-aged voters had not.

That was not a good sign to the campaign organizers.

But the last-minute push must have paid off.

There was only a difference of 389 votes for the school bonds (3,673 “yes” and 3,284 “no” votes) and 481 votes separating the override count (3,672 “yes” and 3,191 “no” votes).

Now what?

The schools will be taken care of for a while, but I think the town still has some long-term revenue issues.

More on that later….