Voters in the Lindbergh, Hazelwood and Pattonville school districts approved on Tuesday a tax increase and bond issues, while voters in the Mehlville School District rejected a tax hike.

Voters in the Kirkwood School District narrowly approved one bond issue and rejected a second.

And voters in Clayton and Richmond Heights defeated hotel-motel room tax proposals.

Voters in the Hazelwood district authorized a $120 million bond issue that the district will use to update heating and air conditioning systems, bring buildings up to code and modernize science laboratories and wiring for technology. The issue will not raise property taxes.

Pattonville plans to use its $41 million bond issue to improve school buildings, particularly safety, infrastructure and energy efficiency items. The issue does not require a tax increase.

The Lindbergh district persuaded voters to approve a tax increase of 65 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation. It will raise $8 million a year; the district has an operating budget of $57 million.

The increase is to "keep Lindbergh Lindbergh," Patrick Lanane, assistant superintendent for finance at Lindbergh, said Tuesday night.

The tax increase will provide money mainly to maintain current class sizes, retain staff and eliminate an operating deficit.

Lanane said the victory was a result of a grass-roots effort. Supporters visited 97 percent of the 12,200 households with registered voters in the district, he said.

"It was citizens working to improve their community close to home," he said.

Mehlville voters rejected an 88-cent tax increase.

The district had planned to use money from 40 cents of the increase to build a new middle school, expand full-day kindergarten and construct space for performing arts and technology at each high school. The remainder would have helped pay for employee salaries and benefits and for expansion of kindergarten to full day.

Mehlville Superintendent Terry Noble said Tuesday night that district officials would have to regroup and await feedback on specific reasons the proposal failed.

Officials also are concerned that the district may receive less money from the state, he said.

Voters in the Kirkwood district narrowly approved a $33.575 million bond issue for school improvements and rejected a $14.845 million bond issue for improving physical education and athletic facilities.

The district had said it would not have to raise taxes if one bond issue passed. If both had succeeded, the district would have needed a property tax increase of 4.5 cents.

The hotel and motel industry strongly opposed the taxes that Clayton and Richmond Heights proposed. The industry had unsuccessfully challenged them in court before the election.