I’m not naïve, I can see the writing on the wall. This special election with a small number of precincts will probably only get supporters out to support the bond issue. In other words my opinion is starting to change, they may just have a good chance of getting this bond passed by the 60% + 1 threshold.
But let’s face reality here.
One argument I hear a lot from my friends who support these bonds is that we need to spend MORE on public education. I couldn’t agree more. But where we fail on this bond issue is the incredible waste involved. Basically for every $3 of tax dollars expended, only $2 of it goes towards education. We are borrowing $190 million with $110 million in interest. The $110 doesn’t get spent on education, it goes straight from our wallets in the form of property taxes to bond investors. Not one single penny of it will be spent on education. What makes it even worse is that the bond investors live all over the country and possibly world, so that money won’t even get recirculated in our economy.
So you ask what the solution is? Well, I think we should take out smaller bonds that can be paid off faster using the capital outlay. While our taxes most likely will go up (there is No escaping that fact), this allows MORE money to go towards the actual projects instead of bond interest. It also stretches out the debt and tax increases. This is something Public Works Director Mark Cotter suggested during the task force meetings and was told they couldn’t trust Pierre. A horrible excuse to blow $110 million of tax dollars on bond investors instead of education.
The other sad reality is that this $190 million is only being spent on brick and mortar. There is no long term plan to staff the schools and where that money will come from.
I hope people wake up before September 18 and come out in droves to vote down this incredibly dubious bond proposal that only lines the pockets of banksters and does very little in helping education in our community.
Don’t get me wrong, I hate the idea of “Super Precincts,” but for what it is worth aren’t there more precincts this time than in past School Board elections?
If so, the real issue is the placing of the “Super Precinct” sites so as to facilitate the pro vote, in my opinion. That is what is wrong with this election, even if we have more precincts this time around.
Remind us again how vernon brown stands to profit off this.
JKC, I can’t remember, but I think in 2016 they used 12 or 19, not sure. But in the LAST school board election they tied it with another election so they used ALL the precincts. Apparently two incumbents running against Peter Pischke was more important than $300 million in tax increases. No offense Peter 🙂
WP, Vern is the VP Marketing and Community Relations for SDN Communications who has had several contracts with the SFSD.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vernon-brown-332baa8
His wife is also a AP teacher with the District.
Is the school district paying an interest rate premium? This deal is suspicious. Is it happening because the bond issuer has inappropriately courted the school board.
So the argument you’re using now is, “we have to pay interest on this loan, so it’s a waste of moneyâ€?
Wouldn’t that make every public works project that uses bonding be a waste of mone? I thought you supported bonding for schools… which is it?
Also, having several smaller bonds would not change the amount of debt we are taking out or change the district’s capacity to pay off debt. It likely wouldn’t make a material difference on the interest we pay.
Placing of super precincts? Good question. There are 5 city councilors, from central, NE, NW, SE, SW. All redistricted to have an equal population. I would be curious to know where these 13 supers line up by council district.
MP – Cotter’s idea was simple, if you pay as you go, you make bigger down payments from tax collection and have to borrow less. In other words, more tax money spent on the projects instead of interest payments. My point is, if you are paying $3 towards education, would you prefer $2.50 gets spent on actual projects instead of $2? Not only do you SAVE money this way, you actually put more towards the projects. I think it is incredibly incompetent to spend that outrageous amount on interest instead of education.