Big referendum vote today

My old hometown school district has a huge referendum vote taking place today.
The school board tried to ram through some "upgrades" for the district.
A $37 million bond ending after interest close to $56 million.
A citizen backlash and signed petition forced the district to put the bond on the ballot.

The vote yes crowd lists the upgrades in an unusual way. New boilers and a kitchen appear first on the list but the largest expense "$10 million fieldhouse" appears last.
This also includes 6 artificial turf athletics fields.
New football grandstand and broadcast booth.
Etc etc etc...
They also claim its tax neutral but that is a big joke.

I have never seen my town so torn up over something. The closest I can remember was when the local foundry union went on strike 20 years ago.
That got a bit nasty too.

I live in a different district so I dont have a vote but I work in the middle of the district.
If the bond passes, I dont forsee any problems but I do wonder what will happen if it fails.

The school administrators took an all or nothing approach that might bite them.
They also hired a PR firm to sell the project.

Below is the link to the upgrade list.

www.dekalbcentral.net...

originally posted by: Bluntone22
My old hometown school district has a huge referendum vote taking place today.
The school board tried to ram through some "upgrades" for the district.
A $37 million bond ending after interest close to $56 million.
A citizen backlash and signed petition forced the district to put the bond on the ballot.

The vote yes crowd lists the upgrades in an unusual way. New boilers and a kitchen appear first on the list but the largest expense "$10 million fieldhouse" appears last.
This also includes 6 artificial turf athletics fields.
New football grandstand and broadcast booth.
Etc etc etc...
They also claim its tax neutral but that is a big joke.

I have never seen my town so torn up over something. The closest I can remember was when the local foundry union went on strike 20 years ago.
That got a bit nasty too.

I live in a different district so I dont have a vote but I work in the middle of the district.
If the bond passes, I dont forsee any problems but I do wonder what will happen if it fails.

The school administrators took an all or nothing approach that might bite them.
They also hired a PR firm to sell the project.

Below is the link to the upgrade list.

www.dekalbcentral.net...

My town's high school district tried to do something similar. The high school wants a new swimming pool. They literally were trying to spend like $50 million to build some massive Olympic sized natorium for the high school. The residents were like fare you outta your god d*amn mind? Given property tax bills are through the roof already AND the school is sitting on a $100 million surplus from over taxing us already, people are like enough is enough.

Most people are like we don't mind a pool, but we ain't paying for a $50 million pool. A lot of us are like we don't care about a pool and if the current one is not up to code, then the high school kids can go to the YMCA to swim. The school has like 4000 students. Maybe 100 swim on some sort of team.

There are a lot of pool boosters who are pushing for this pool and they've been donig all kinds of underhanded political moves to try to make it happen (after it got voted down by itself, they tried to bury it again in some larger capital plan of like $150 million).

After that didn't work, they went to the liberal playbook of racism. Some of these people are literally claiming the pool is an equity issue.... since most of the black students don't know how to swim!

We literally have a brand new public recreation center across the street from the high school with a pool. There is a YMCA not even a mile away with a large olympic sized heated / indoor pool. They could literally just give every student like $250 voucher and let them go swim at will at any of the other places in town or take a class if they really think swimming is important and it still wouldn't cost a fraction of what they are trying to spend on this pool.

Small town politics is crazy.

a reply to: Edumakated

I've heard stories about the high school football stadiums in Texas.
But never one about a pool.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Edumakated

I've heard stories about the high school football stadiums in Texas.
But never one about a pool.

The thing is I can almost justify massive football stadiums given how popular it is in Texas. We are talking about god damn swimming! No one cares! Ok, so you might get 500 people (80% of which are parents) at a swim meet... that ain't worth $50 million.

I could careless if the school has a pool. We need to focus on reading, writing, and math. The $50 million they spend on a pool could address real performance issues among the lower income students such as helping defray costs of tutors, after school care, etc.

a reply to: Edumakated

Sounds like our schools show choir programs.
They make it to state 20 years straight.
Win 7 state titles.

Nobody goes to their programs and they beg for money to pay for the travel.

But the football field need artificial turf..lol

a reply to: Bluntone22

Many people believe government has no role in society or building a commonwealth. Building a commonwealth is communism.

originally posted by: Edumakated
My town's high school district tried to do something similar. The high school wants a new swimming pool. They literally were trying to spend like $50 million to build some massive Olympic sized natorium for the high school. The residents were like fare you outta your god d*amn mind? Given property tax bills are through the roof already AND the school is sitting on a $100 million surplus from over taxing us already, people are like enough is enough.

In my town, I was speaking to someone on the city counsel. They said we have 3 police departments. One that works and the other 2 are retired. The guy across the street was a police officer. He retired in his 40s and for the last 10 years he sits on driveway everyday sunning himself. It must be nice to live the life of Reilly off tax payers money. He's very outspoken right winger who passionately hates socialism. He was very much anti-gay-rights until his daughter came out.

The problem with my local government is it is bloated with every son, daughter, second, and third cousins all making 6-digit salaries. Local government is the most inefficient and bloated form of government. In New Jersey we really just need county government and no local government. There are no boundaries between towns. It's impossible to reform government because organized crime in New Jersey is just way too powerful. The "do-gooders" wake up with the "fitches".

a reply to: dfnj2015

It's easy to spend money.
Especially easy when it's not yours.

a reply to: dfnj2015

I thought you were all about big government.

Your words not mine

originally posted by: dfnj2015

originally posted by: Edumakated
My town's high school district tried to do something similar. The high school wants a new swimming pool. They literally were trying to spend like $50 million to build some massive Olympic sized natorium for the high school. The residents were like fare you outta your god d*amn mind? Given property tax bills are through the roof already AND the school is sitting on a $100 million surplus from over taxing us already, people are like enough is enough.

In my town, I was speaking to someone on the city counsel. They said we have 3 police departments. One that works and the other 2 are retired. The guy across the street was a police officer. He retired in his 40s and for the last 10 years he sits on driveway everyday sunning himself. It must be nice to live the life of Reilly off tax payers money. He's very outspoken right winger who passionately hates socialism. He was very much anti-gay-rights until his daughter came out.

The problem with my local government is it is bloated with every son, daughter, second, and third cousins all making 6-digit salaries. Local government is the most inefficient and bloated form of government. In New Jersey we really just need county government and no local government. There are no boundaries between towns. It's impossible to reform government because organized crime in New Jersey is just way too powerful. The "do-gooders" wake up with the "fitches".

I saw a chart on Zerohedge this morning in an article about how Chicago has the worst housing market in the country now. I don't necessarily agree, but that is another topic. IL has the second highest property taxes in the country. The article had a chart showing the more than 50% of the property tax bill goes toward pensions for teachers/local government employees.

The problem with my local government is it is bloated with every son, daughter, second, and third cousins all making 6-digit salaries. Local government is the most inefficient and bloated form of government.

True, and it is worse at the state and federal level which is why I want the Feds to have as little power as possible. At least at the local level, we have a better chance of holding the politicians accountable.

Watch out when they try to sell you on the artificial turf. They will tell you that it will save money because they don't have to fertilize it or mow it.
What they don't tell you is that you have to buy equipment to fluff the ground up rubber bits that are mixed in with the turf and pull the equipment around with tractors.... just like mowing grass. And the turf will have to be replaced periodically.... and the drainage field underneath it can get clogged, which means that you have to clean it out... possibly involving digging it up.
Oh, and from time to time you have to replenish those rubber bits. It is far from maintenance free.

a reply to: butcherguy

I've heard some rumblings about that stuff.
I think you need to sanitize it too.
And it might only last 7 or 8 years and need replacement

a reply to: Bluntone22

Once a school gets the taste of referendum money they will never stop. It's like toll money.
I saw it happen to one of my kids school. It started when he was in kindergarten and they are still asking
for money.. At first it was all about legitimate things like art & music and such. It soon morphed into all kinds of other things. I just took a peek on what they are doing and here is what I found for 2017. They have more planned with 2018 money & 2019... like I said, never ending.

Just read this and tell me what you think.


www.chicagotribune.com...

Antioch Elementary School would be refashioned into an early childhood center with just the district's preschool and birth-to-three programs

Do you think that everyone should have to pay for birth-to-three programs?... It passed!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Nothing surprises me anymore

The results are in and it's a solid hell no..

Kinda surprises me..