TEMPERANCE — The Bedford school district’s proposal this year to spend $70.35 million to upgrade buildings has led to a competitive race for three board of education seats in November.

Todd Bruning, a Lambertville business owner, is vying for one of the seats held by incumbents Lisa Beins-McCaig, Tim Brakel, and Joe Gore. He is the candidate of Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, a political action committee formed in opposition to the school board’s earlier facilities plan.

The proposed plan, which included building an elementary school at a yet-to-be-chosen site, was crushed at the polls on May 6, and the school board is in the process of examining its options by formulating a strategic plan and determining what the public will accept. It has placed a 0.5-mill sinking-fund levy for building repairs on the Nov. 4 ballot to tide the district over in the meantime.

Mr. Bruning, 44, is the owner of Todds Guns on Summerfield Road in Lambertville, where he lives with his wife, Carrie, and their sons, Branden, 8, and Jacob, 9, both of whom are Bedford students.

His candidacy, he said, is a direct result of the failed facilities plan, which he described as “a giant wish list. I started looking at what they were thinking. I started looking at who’s on the school board. I don’t think this school board has met a tax it didn’t like.”

He said that if elected, his emphasis would be on protecting taxpayers while ensuring the district makes the best use of its money. He also opposes the sinking-fund levy, which he said would be unnecessary if the board budgeted properly for maintenance and repairs.

“If 2 percent of revenue were set aside each year in a maintenance fund, they wouldn’t have to come to the taxpayers,” he said.

The district, beset by shrinking enrollment and reduced state support, has been on a cost-cutting campaign for years and is emerging from deficit spending. The board shuttered two elementary schools — Smith Road and Temperance Road — as part of that campaign.

“You can’t set away money you don’t have,” said Ms. Beins-McCaig, the board’s point person to promote the facilities plan. “The priority has been educating kids. I just hope the people who have supported me will come out and vote.”

Mr. Bruning, a Marine Corps veteran, was born in Toledo and grew up in Columbus and Westerville, Ohio. He attended the University of Toledo and obtained a bachelor’s degree in applied management from National American University.

His firing last year as an at-will employee of the Bedford Township Fire Department contributed to rumors of malfeasance and corruption in the department. He said he was terminated in December because he complained that the department wasted money.

A township probe uncovered a breakdown in the department’s chain of command and myriad operational shortcomings but no corruption, and since then the township has hired another fire chief.

Contact Carl Ryan at: carlryan@theblade.com or 419-724-6095.

First Published September 22, 2014, 4:00 a.m.