Can You Guarantee?

Last Monday’s Town Hall meeting saw many interesting questions from some very interested folks. One of the common themes was “guarantees.” As in, ‘Can you guarantee you are going to use the bond money just to build buildings?”
The answer to that one is, of course, yes. We are forbidden by law to do anything else with the money. This is not operating funds we are seeking but new construction funds and, in the case of the current high school, renovation funds.
It should be noted also that included in the ballot language there is one half mil dedicated to maintenance. This component is required by the state. And that’s a good thing.
Another guarantee question involved what we would do with savings realized through more efficient operation costs for the new buildings. Would we, in fact, restore some or all of the programs we have lost owing to cutbacks in recent years.
The answer is that our Journey Map plan lays out our destination and goals. The plan has been adopted by the board and is supported by both administration and staff. To the extent there are funds available to make progress, it is clear where we are going.
Another piece of that answer is that whatever programs are best suited to the needs of our students will be the ones put in place. It may never make sense to restore teaching Home Economics at our high school since similar courses are available at the Career Center. We cannot afford to duplicate services.
In efforts to make promises and “guarantees” one must also be careful not to commit to things beyond one’s control. State funding and mandates for instance are beyond our ability to predict.
We may be forced tomorrow to do something not anticipated in our budget forecast or current building projections. That’s the way government works and we are powerless to object. We have to work within the confines of the dictates of state and federal lawmakers.
One guarantee your board can make is that we will reduce the current amount of taxes you are being charged by 1.95 mils upon passage of the bond issue. Thus making the net increase to you 4.59 mils. You will see this action take place at this Monday’s board meeting.
Another guarantee you can count on is that owing to the Project Labor Agreement already in place, fully 80% plus of the labor force on these projects will be local workers. Workers who live and raise families in our local area. Workers who spend money here that contributes to the economy. Hometown folks.
You can also count on the fact that these buildings will add to our ability to attract new businesses, jobs and residents. We have been on the wrong side of this issue for far too long at great cost to our community and your real estate values.
Finally, we can guarantee that our financial woes are far from over. We still need operating funds. Expenses continue to grow. Receipts continue to hold steady or fall. You may well understand this from your own household budget experience. It’s a fact of life and speaks to the need to be ever improving and working harder and smarter.
Eventually we will be forced to build new buildings whether we do it now or later. It will never be less expensive and there will never be this level of state fund participation. The only question is how much more money gets spent on old buildings versus how much we have to invest toward new facilities. You get to decide.