Vote no and no on school bond referendum

Written by Opinion Monday, 12 December 2011 00:00

To the editor:

Maybe this will seem obvious to readers, but I’m voting no to both questions on the January school board referendum. This decision was by no means easy for me. I joined the school board’s buildings and grounds committee last summer, not to be an obstructionist, but to be part of a solution.

After a few months of spending every Monday night in meetings, I now see people such as the superintendent, not as villains, but as hard working people that I can find common ground with on many issues.

This building committee came up with $2 million dollars in cost savings on renovations to the primary and middle school. We spent hours going line by line through the defeated referendum. I know more about ceiling tiles than I ever wanted to know. Two million in savings is no small accomplishment for such a diverse group of people. We all agreed on the $2 million in cuts. Those savings have all been moved to question #2, and a no vote says you don’t want us to spend that $2 million, you want the savings.

But the big decision is on question #1 for $7.5 million. I have wrestled with this for some time, feeling an obligation to support those people I worked with on the committee.

But I can’t.

This committee seems to have suffered the fate of another’s sins. After finding $2 million in cuts, we are told the state requires the total amount to be on the ballot, so therefore there will be two questions, with the total being the same as last April’s defeated referendum. While not happy, this wasn’t the deal breaker, there’s more.

One member of the committee appropriately kept asking, “What is the best long-range solution?” But the committee was stuck with the immediate deadline for filing another referendum for the 40 percent state grant. This because the school board argued with themselves from April until September on the rules for the building committee, so we never got started until then. While the school board thinks the 40 percent is the only thing in the world that matters, the problem is that money does not address the school most in need, so this is not a final solution. I’m not convinced that the 40 percent is the most important issue. And more importantly, last April the voters said it wasn’t.

But ultimately the deal breaker for me was sitting at the township committee meeting listening to the sarcastic and bizarre criticisms of township committee. The idea that having plenty of notice to this tax somehow will make $7.5 million affordable just defies logic. Five bonds and a local purpose tax within a few years is what we are being asked to shoulder. And they think it’s OK because got adequate notice?

After listening to the sarcasm by township committee, the question to be asked is, where were they last April when it counted? When they had their chance to corner the school board, the room was packed and they all hid behind the mayor. Nobody said anything and all they could muster was the courage for a half-cent cut. Looking back, had they shown some courage they could have cut the school budget enough to be able to afford the proposed new bond. We got nothing in April when it mattered, and plenty of hot air now.

The township committee is now talking about issuing a bond of their own for roads and trash trucks. So we had a big local purpose tax last year, a proposed bond this year, the beach fill bond (thankfully), the school board bond, and another bond for dealing with the elementary school coming in a couple of years. People throughout the entire township will sink under this debt load!

Why can’t the township committee and school board sit down in front of the planning board and come up with an economic spending plan for the future? Is the only use for the planning board land use? Can’t we have an economic master plan?

Here is the part where all the big spenders roll their eyes. I have yet another neighbor with a For Sale sign on their house. I know multiple people out of work because of illness. I missed two months myself but my tax bill was waiting for me.

So while I have respect and consideration for the members of the building committee and their hard work, I will cast my vote “No” and “No.” Nobody listens when you talk about those that can no longer afford the taxes. I will stand with my neighbors throughout the township that have a sale sign on their home, those who are without work because of illness, those struggling that have been laid off, and those trying to figure out how they will pay the school tax when too old to work. Because I know I fit into all of those categories. Are you so sure this township can’t become unaffordable even to you?

When you go to the voting booth, the question is not whether you can afford this referendum, the question to ask yourself is, “Can my neighbor afford this referendum?”

Ted Kingston

Strathmere