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Portland voters on Tuesday rejected a $548 million bond measure being pitched by Portland Public Schools for full reconstruction of eight schools and upgrades at the other 77. But even though the no vote takes away potential construction jobs, some industry professionals questioned how much work it would have actually created.

As of 1:30 p.m., with all ballots counted except those that couldn’t be read by machine, the margin was about 1,500 votes, according to the Multnomah County Elections Division. Unreadable ballots will be counted over the rest of the week, but there aren’t enough votes left to close the gap. The results will be made official in 20 days.

鈥淲e were supporting it on the basis that it would be employing construction professionals and could possibly spur development,鈥� said John Killin, president of the Pacific Northwest chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors. 鈥淏ut the caveat on it is that we’ve seen stimulus like this before and there are concerns around just how much of that money would’ve actually been spent on construction.鈥�

Killin said that ABC never put together any data on how many construction jobs could be created by the bond because it never received a definitive breakdown of how the money would be spent. Money would have definitely gone to construction, he said, but also to things such as computers.

鈥淚t would have employed some construction workers and that’s a great thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we would like to see a much more detailed plan of the spending if this thing comes up again.鈥�

The construction bond 鈥� the largest pitched by a local government in Oregon history 鈥� would have increased property taxes by $2 for every $1,000 in assessed value. So an owner of a home assessed at $150,000 would have had to pay $300 more in property taxes annually over the next six years.

The eight schools that would have been rebuilt include Roosevelt, Cleveland and Jefferson high schools; Faubion, Laurelhurst, Marysville and Rigler K-8 schools; and Markham Elementary School. Every other school in the district 鈥� all 77 of them 鈥� would have received some improvements.

While the vote was close, the final result strays from the norm in Portland: 58 percent of voters approved a $200 million bond in 1995 and 60 percent of voters approved a temporary county income tax for the school district in 2003.

School board officials on Tuesday night acknowledged that it was a tough time to be asking for the money, and said they would take another look at the bond and bring it back before voters, possibly as early as the fall.

Chris Linn of Portland-based Boora Architects said he hopes to see the bond reappear.

鈥淚 hope they’ll listen to some of the community feedback about size or scope of the bond,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 would suspect there might be some adjustments.鈥�

Linn said Boora has a diverse client base with both private and public school projects, but those that rely heavily on public projects are most likely disappointed.

鈥淔or other firms and other contractors that rely on the public school business, this is a blow,鈥� he said.

Killin added that he had received push-back from some of his members because they believe that the same contractors and subcontractors employed by Portland Public Schools in the past would have gotten the work this bond would have generated.

Though the construction bond failed, voters did overwhelmingly pass a $19 million operating levy, which will help the schools over the next year.