Fort Dodge voters have overwhelmingly rejected proposed franchise fees that would have paid for adding eight more police officers.

The fees were rejected by margins of about 62 percent to 38 percent, according to unofficial referendum results released by the Webster County Auditor Doreen Pliner.

The fees needed to be approved by a simple majority of those voting in order to go into effect.

On the franchise fee that would have been added to the electric bills of MidAmerican Energy customers, 1,479 people , or 61.57 percent, voted no, while 923 people, or 38.43 percent, voted yes.

On the franchise fee that would have been added to the natural gas bills, 1,463 people, or 61.88 percent, voted no, while 902 people, or 38.14 percent, voted yes.

A total of 2,417 votes were cast, according to the Webster County Auditor’s Office.

The vote on the fees was triggered by a petition initiated by Scott Davis, a Fort Dodge resident and former City Council candidate. He said Tuesday night that he was disappointed that the fees were not approved.

“I’m sad that it didn’t pass because I know the city needs more police,” he said. “I wanted it to pass, I really did.”

But Davis said it was important to him that the voters made the decision, not the City Council.

He said when he launched the petition, he felt that the issue “needs to be put in the lap of the voters.”

“At the end of the day, the people have spoken,” he said.

The franchise fees were 5 percent levies that would have been added to the electric and natural gas bills.

If the fees were enacted, the 1 percent local option sales tax on those utility bills would have been dropped.

It was estimated that the fees would generate $1.8 million a year.

The City Council approved a measure dedicated all of that money to the Police Department.

The money would have been used to add four patrol officers, a three-member Community Action Team to work with both patrol and investigations, and one additional general crimes detective position.

The City Council had approved the fees on two of the three required votes when the petition was filed in late February, sending the matter to the voters.