It is clear the School Board did not listen to the community.
Measure U is asking for the same $93 million to which the voters said NO just 5 months ago in June 2008.
Quality education for our children is critical for their future and the future of our country. Measure U will do nothing to solve Truckee Tahoe Unified School District’s inability to meet minimum Federal educational requirements.
Student enrollment has declined 14 percent since October 2000 and is projected to continue to decline. It is clear that more space is not needed. We need to take care of the facilities we have. Money is tight for everyone in our uncertain economy where inflation is the highest in 17 years. Employment concerns, increasing food and fuel costs, and home losses on top of paying for two previous school bonds, the recent Hospital Bond and Fire District assessment plus a looming bond for the Truckee-Donner Park and Recreation District is pushing our community too far. We are being taxed out of our homes. It is time to say NO! NO! NO!
Despite the wording of Measure U, which states it shall maintain 1999 voter-approved tax rates, passing this bond will actually immediately increase our current taxes by 35 percent of the current 1999 bond tax payment. In addition, when the existing debt from the 1999 school bond is paid off in 2025, Measure U will remain on our tax bill at $48 per $100,000 of our 2025 assessed valuation. Our assessed valuations can increase each year causing a huge increase in our bond payments as they persist until 2055. This is an increasing payment commitment for the next 47 years!
Measure U’s proposed expenditures, which include eliminating portable classrooms and constructing new classrooms, building temporary district administration space, and upgrading outdoor athletic facilities, will not meet the critical academic needs of our students. Further, a new addition to the current bond project list is seismic upgrades that were strangely missing from the June Bond request. If the Hospital fooled the public can the school district?
A responsible budget needs to include adequate funding for facility maintenance. Instead, the financial strategy is environmentally irresponsible – discarding and rebuilding instead of maintaining. Over the past 20 years the school district has received $46 million in developer fees: $28.9 million in the past 10 years alone. At this rate, these funds could amount to $136 million by 2055. A good example of how these funds can be used was a proposal at the June 2005 School District Board meeting to redesign traffic flow and add parking spaces at Truckee Elementary School (one of the projects listed for this proposed bond) at a cost of $1.7 million using developer fee monies. This expenditure is responsible; a request for more tax money from the community is not.
We need responsible school district governance, improved learning programs and inspired teachers with a fair contract, not new and improved facilities that further burden taxpayers unnecessarily. I am urging us to take back our community. Say No to more unnecessary taxes.
~ Lynne R. Larson, Truckee
