Voters in the state's fourth-largest city will have to decide the issue Nov. 6, but most of those who attended Tuesday night's event expressed doubts about the prospects of skipping out on the Jordan School District.

"What is the educational plan for the [new] school district?" asked West Jordan resident Jay Graft, who has two young children. "We can't support something [that has] an incomplete business plan where you say 'we've got a great idea, you give us the money for it.' "

Already, West Jordan residents could be left in a whittled down district if the east side, including Draper, Sandy, Midvale and Cottonwood Heights, votes to go it alone. But West Jordan has the option of abandoning the remaining west-side district, which would also include South Jordan, Riverton, Herriman and Bluffdale.

"As you see, we're faced with a dilemma [and] we felt we had to do something," West Jordan Mayor David Newton said. "The east side is going to pull out. The advantages are too great for them not to."

If the east side breaks away, homeowners in the remaining Jordan district would see an average 12 percent property tax increase on the portion paid toward schools, according to a feasibility study commissioned by West Jordan. But if West Jordan divides the district again, its residents could expect a 16 percent jump.

"The most disheartening thing about this whole situation is that we're starting to sound like the east side. We don't want to pay for [schools for] my grandkids in Herriman . . . [or] my grandkids in Riverton," said Sharon Auger, a West Jordan resident.

"What is wrong with sticking together and being a community?"

rwinters@sltrib.com