Thursday, February 13, 2025

Vote “No”

Posted

Dear Editor,

As the USD 273 bond election approaches, I urge the community to take a hard look at the spending habits of our school board and vote “No.”

A bond is an imperfect tool that is sometimes necessary to raise a large amount of capital that is outside of the regular budget. We remember being shocked at the unfairness when we learned that by state statute, those outside the district will pay increased vehicle property taxes if the district passes a bond –and our friends in Glen Elder, Tipton, and Hunter surely have an opinion on this. Additionally, within the bond structure, utilizing a Construction Manager at Risk, while fiscally inefficient, is practically a necessity, because of the rules governing bond usage – the district is bound by statute to produce the required results within budget, even if the project takes years to complete. The only way to ensure this is to introduce significant budgetary inflation, at the expense of the taxpayers.

Capital outlay is more fitting for even the more extensive maintenance actions, particularly when they are foreseeable. Individual items go out for bid, and the best bids are chosen. All costs can be itemized and approved before they are spent. USD 273 has $1.89 million budgeted (reserves plus incoming revenue) in capital outlay for 2024-2025. What are those funds intended for, and why is that more important than HVAC?

Or is the intent to use the bond to fund HVAC so those funds are freed up for other, less important items? How much do the rooftop units cost? Can the community see a detailed list of how this money will be spent – labor, parts, etc? Instead of clear answers, we get a ballot that includes the phrase “...and all other projects related thereto,” leaving the door open for anything.

Even more concerning is the excessive plan for the Ag building. At $3.9 million, I wonder how many similar facilities in this town cost that much to build.

There’s not much evidence of scaling back, as the original bond had an Ag building at $4.4 million, and failed 36% - 64%. With Vo-Tech facilities readily available, this is an unnecessary cost that the community cannot afford, especially when there has been little attempt at private fundraising.

An example of the district's excessive operational spending is administrative salaries. USD 273 employs seven administrative staff members who each earn an average of $111,582 per year, with the median per capita income in the county at $35,258 (2022 data, Census. gov). This kind of spending raises questions about the board’s priorities.

The board’s responsibility is to manage the district’s resources as a representative body of the greater community, not to act as an adversary. Most of us are tired of seeing government waste at the federal and state levels. Those problems are out of our reach, but we as a community have an opportunity to get our own budget in order. Vote “No” on all three propositions on the USD 273 bond.

Michael Jones, Beloit

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