Dear Editor,
To start with I would like to mention, I attended the meeting regarding USD 490s facilities improvement plan. Anybody that reads the Times’ blogs online. I attended, so get over it!
I would like to start this letter off by reminding your readers that we just completed the high school project and we have started paying for that improvement. To refresh everyones memory the bond issue failed on its first two attempts before finally passing. If the readers remember correctly our economy was in better shape when it was voted on and passed. The school board and its members tried to pass a bond that intended to renovate all of our schools, but elected to sneak it in a piece at a time. The time has come for those remaining pieces of their initial goal to be put in place, or not.
What I heard at this meeting was; 1. EMS was a safety concern, (was this an attempt to scare the public into thinking its life or death, you better vote in favor of these improvements). The first fear factor is, the school has stairs (I see the stairs as a form of exercise, to my knowledge no one has died falling down the stairs since the time the school was built). Second fear factor, Internet/ network cables visible from the ceilings ( I think secure wireless devices can solve that problem at a very low cost compared to building a new building. I may point out these cables do not carry high voltage through them. Third fear factor that was pointed out was the fact that there are too many cars bringing and picking up children, again I may point out that poor weather conditions brings more traffic to the schools, during warmer weather more children walk to and from. Finally the fourth fear factor is crosswalk on 6th street was mentioned as a safety concern but, then noted by Oral Taylor that no accidents have happened at that location either. The last thing mentioned was the need for more parking. I will try to provide this esteemed group of advisors with these options each grade school property has sufficient unused bare land available to provide parking, remember build itthey will park. The only exception is EMS, let me remind you the school district owned nearly 2/3s of the block West where the old Junior High sat, the district gave / sold the west half to the hospital, the play ground area was traded for a small piece of property east of the school on Taylor for playground usage. If parking is an issue, and you want to solve it, purchase just enough of the properties north of First Street, close off First Street like the hospital did Atchison.. Parking problem solved! The next issue is HVAC systems, noted earlier in my letter I mentioned computer wiring exposed in the hall areas, try to follow me on this..... The ceiling height throughout all the schools are very high, these areas can be used to integrate higher efficient heating and cooling trunk lines as well as computer cables using a drop style ceiling to conceal these improvements.
The next item that was presented at the meeting was the desire to decrease the student/teacher ratio to 20.1, I asked how much the enrollment has changed in the past to create the need to decrease class size and they didnt have an answer. I looked at the school district’s Web site and the enrollment has decreased 42 students in PreK; K-5 there was no mention to EMS enrollment being up, down or unchanged. I want to know what the teacher/ student ratio is now. My guess EMS enrollment has not grown to the point of needing more space.
As tax payers we should reflect on the class sizes when we were still in school and ask the question, were we over crowded then, with 20 to 30 students per class? I might add teachers aids were unheard of and unneeded until just a few years back. What has happened in the classroom that required this additional help? Is it unruly, disrespectful children?
I want to share with everyone the fact that the bondsman claims our community can handle up to 60 million in bond debt, described at this meeting. The school district has chosen to only ask for 34 million (at this time, get ready this is phase 1 of 2). It was mentioned that this amount was derived from 2008 compiled information, which sounds like the total was based on a lump sum of all of our incomes in one basket. This is how much our income can support. How can these calculations truly identify what each household can afford? Well, we are living in the real world and nobody, but me knows how much my bills are and how much I can afford above and beyond my current debt. I'm curious when this amount was arrived at, if it considered what harmful effect it will have on middle and low income families buying a home or renting. How this will impact retired persons who have a hard time paying for medical care or medications, or for that matter being able to pay real estate tax on a home they worked so hard to keep.
I want to point out that the school district claims we are the fourth lowest mill levy when it comes to taxes, do they also figure in the State school tax? What they don't point out is the fact that our mill levy has already increased approximately 10 mills due to the high school project. If this is approved expect it to increase another 10.35 mills and phase 2 of this project will add another 10 something mills. So, the ugly truth is they are asking you the voter to agree to move from fourth lowest mill levy to the highest school district mill levy in the tri-county area within the coming years! This isn't a meager $10 per month investment they are asking for, add it all up, it may make a difference to everyone who has a mortgage or having the ability at tax time to keep their taxes current. Do you keep your home or move on?
To those voters that take the laid back, I don't care attitude and don't follow what is happening, let us think about what is truly important to our community. Do our leaders or special task forces focus on spending our hard earned money on frills the community can live without? Is there a list of priorities that we can all agree on? Stop for one moment and look at the ridiculous expenditures that our commission and community have chosen to make without regard to what is really important to our prosperity. Do the taxing authorities or tax funded groups consider the harm they create financially for our community when they continually ask for or choose to just take? What we must all take into consideration is the fact that we will be expected to pay for a golf course when it can't pay its own way (2.2 million), we will be expected to pay for a football stadium with our tax money (18 - 26 million) irregardless of the three groups participation. Its our tax money theyll be spending. When we are in a recession and unemployment is at an all time high, bankruptcies, foreclosures are constant headlines, when our families can't make ends meet; we are all to blame for allowing our politicians and tax recipients to ransack our bank accounts for frivolous monuments and unneeded expenditures. I get the impression that these groups think that if theyre not finding ways to spend money, they arent doing their job. I think because of that .. we are loosing ours!!!
In closing, I want to share one of the biggest eye openers I got at this meeting. The key speaker who is in the real estate business gave me an answer to one of my questions. His answer was this. Burt, this building (EMS) is probably one of the best built buildings, it will probably still be standing in a thousand years, but its out lived its design and purpose. We don’t build buildings to last forever any more, we build them for a precise purpose, when it is outgrown or becomes unsuitable, we tear it down and build a new building. That’s more economical and practical now days. This my tax paying community is the mindset of our leaders, our tax dollars hard at work, or just thrown away? How long will our $10 a month investment last, or is that no longer important to us? Remember this when you vote, remember this when you pay your taxes.
I guess from a politicians stand point we dont deserve to get a bang for our buck anymore its to easy to just raise taxes and build new! Pay up and shut up is the mindset our leaders have. I beg each and every citizen to take the time to look at your tax statement and see what education already cost (State school tax, USD 490 and Butler College). Take a look at what the city and county taxes cost you each month. Then ask yourself if it was difficult paying your taxes this year, because of unemployment, higher medical premiums and every other financial obligation you might have. Then finally ask yourself, who knows what my debts are and how can someone else decide what I can afford? I'm sure you will understand my point! Our big brothers spend our money, like they just don't care!
No, to bricks and mortar,
Burt Long Jr.
El Dorado
