The Healthy Skeptic (02-11-08)

I consider myself to be a healthy skeptic. Especially when it comes to money, whenever someone wants me to spend it, give it, lend it, or borrow it, I become as suspicious as Sherlock Holmes on a case. I find myself becoming distrustful, always trying to find the swindle in any deal.

So this Monday I more than empathized with several of the good people who attended our Hill City Community Meeting to discuss the Bond Issue Election to be held March 4th. As co-chair of the KIDS (Keep Improving District Schools) committee, I helped present the information, and from the first question, it became obvious that there was some healthy skepticism of the district’s plan to upgrade and renovate our schools. Let’s face it: we are asking the voters to approve something that will raise their taxes. There is no getting around that simple fact, and whenever you ask people for their money, there is bound to be some suspicion. I understand and expect a certain level of healthy skepticism

Now, I am going to take a moment to address some of the concerns I heard Monday night. While these were addressed at the meeting, I can’t help but think that others might have similar concerns.

The first question of the evening asked why the school district would hold a special election in March rather than wait a month and split the cost of the election with the county who hold elections in April. There seemed to be concern that the district was frivolously wasting money by paying for a special election.

I understand how on the surface, not waiting a month might seem to be a wasteful decision. However, I ask you to consider the effect inflation has on contractor bids. The facilities committee collected bids early on to get an idea of the cost of various projects. Then, when the board was close to a final decision, bids were again collected. In just six months, the costs had increased, in some cases dramatically. It became obvious that the longer we waited, the more we would pay. Even in one month, the increases we would face would certainly be more costly than paying for a special election.

Another question centered on the information we distributed detailing the amount of taxes generated by an increased mill levy on various homes, businesses, and farm lands. The healthy skeptic who spoke claimed that our figures for the tax burden on farm ground were off by several hundreds of dollars each year.

I understand the source of the suspicion. In hindsight, we may have been better off simply stating the mill levy information. Instead, we tried to give everyone an idea of how the bond issues would increase their taxes by presenting an estimate based on averages. Now, for homeowners, these figures should be fairly accurate, as most homes are taxed based on a standard percentage of their value. Farm ground, though, is a completely different matter. The way I understand it, a piece of farm ground is taxed based on its productivity, meaning that each piece is unique. The numbers we provided were simple averages, and yes, they may be off one way or another depending on the productivity of the land in question.

In our attempt to paint a general picture, we created a healthy skepticism. However, the mill levy information is accurate. The bonds would generate an approximate mill levy of 8.66 for question #1 to upgrade and renovate, and generate a mill levy of approximately 3.75 for question #2 to build a new gym with locker rooms, restrooms and commons area. The KIDS committee encourages each voter to use this information to calculate your own individual tax increase.

We also heard skepticism about the district valuation. The simple fact is that the mill levy is tied to district valuation. If the valuation increases, the mill levy decreases, and visa-versa. While no one can say for certain what the oil or agricultural markets will do, what is hoped is that the district valuation will remain somewhat constant, with only gradual rises and falls. What is certain, though, is that the longer we wait, the less we will get for our money. We believe that we cannot afford to wait. Now is the time to improve our district schools.

Then there was the skeptic who felt that we had padded our “wish list” (we refer to them as “challenges and solutions”) with frivolous projects. Again, I understand. Our informational “bullet sheet” is long and filled with many projects.

While I understand the healthy skepticism concerning the scope of our proposed solutions, I respectfully disagree that any of the projects are frivolous or wasteful. I have been involved with this process since the moment I arrived, and I can personally attest to the fact that each of the projects on the ballot was included as a response to a legitimate need. Our committee and board of education all agreed that this plan was best for the students, the district, and the community.

The bottom line for me is that I believe our board of education is trying to improve the district schools. They asked the voters to improve district schools fifty years ago and they are asking the voters now to improve district schools for another fifty years.

We have another Hill City Community Meeting this Thursday, (2/14) at 7:00 pm in the high school auditorium. All are welcome and encouraged to attend – even the healthy skeptics.