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Defeat Fayette School $3.4 Million Bond Issue

Posted 3/29/23

To the Editor:

I intend to vote against the Bond Issue of $3,400,000 proposed by the Fayette RIII School Board in the April 4, 2023 local election. Here is why I oppose this unneeded …

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Defeat Fayette School $3.4 Million Bond Issue

Posted

To the Editor:

I intend to vote against the Bond Issue of $3,400,000 proposed by the Fayette RIII School Board in the April 4, 2023 local election. Here is why I oppose this unneeded proposal:

1). My property tax and every other tax payer's tax would go down if the expiring bond is not replaced by this equally assessed amount. Some taxpayers could save 100s of dollars per year and everyone would save some!

2). Details of the bond issue were published in the December 28, 2022, The Fayette Advertiser. The article was very informative to me of the flaws in the proposed bond issue. Absent was the assessed amount of the debt without the bond renewal!

3). The total district's property tax rate is currently $4.9962 per $100 of assessed valuation, and $0.7762 of that goes to pay the district's currant debt, or 15% of my/our taxes goes/go to pay off debt, which translates into payments of $350,000 per year, which will increase to $525,000 by 2041 (according to the Article).

I found out that the neighboring Glasgow school district issues no bonds, and instead approaches maintenance/repair needs from within the budget, and tackles each project as it comes up in a “pay as you go” approach. Any borrowing would be short term and within the budget. Just think what could be done in just a few years to repair the buildings in question if $350,000 was applied directly to the project instead of paying interest and bond principle on the debt.

4). Isn't it odd that the repairs mentioned suddenly become urgent when the expiring bond is approaching its end. This bond issue smells of opportunism and wasteful spending. There is no indication of urgency that the roofs are leaking, or that windows cannot be caulked and weather stripped, or that solid doors, are being breached by vandals, or that brick walls are about to collapse, or that undisturbed asbestos has become a problem from environmental inspection mandates, or that funds for the HVAC project are not already there!

5). In an article in The Advertiser, 8/25/21, the then Superintendent, Jill Wiseman, reported two payments totaling $1,900,000 coming from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to be used for capital improvements like HVAC upgrades and other system repairs. What happened to that money?

6). And then there is the phrase in the ballot language, “without limitations”, which indicates that the district wants money that it doesn't know what to do with so is making the bond issue into a slush fund to be spent without accountability or transparency to the taxpayer public after the election. I have more unflattering information to share.

This bond is unnecessary and we need to vote “no” on April 4, and force the district to come up with a more honest and better plan to get the repairs done while reducing taxes.

Sincerely,

Paul Lehmann, 165 CoRd 425, Fayette, MO 65248

Telephone: 660-248-1134

Email: lehmannpault49@gmail.com

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