Normally, I don’t worry much about school bonds. I just vote for them. Yes, education is expensive, but it’s cheaper than ignorance. Vote for the kids, even if it hurts a little.
But the Silver Schools bond issue merits more consideration, even though the result may come out the same. This tax increase is greater than in most bond issues. There has been some debate, some controversy and even one offcial mistake (eventually corrected), about how to interpret the cost to taxpayers.
Officially, there are two items on the ballot. First, you vote whether to continue the current 2.0 mill rate for school maintenance, and second whether to add 4.1 mill for major repairs to Silver schools. A quick glance at your property tax bill may increase your confusion. The numbers don’t seem to match real world values.
The bottom line is that if this bond passes, you’ll pay about $135.67 extra per year if your house is valued at 100K, or $341.67 extra if your house is valued at 250K. There’s no use pretending that a 23 percent increase isn’t a lot. As an owner of commercial property, I’ll feel it more than most homeowners. And I’ll have to decide how much, if any, of my increased cost to pass on in increased prices.
The bond is so controversial that a group called Keep Grant County Aordable took out a full-page ad urging people to vote no on this “unprecedented” tax increase. They argue that the tax will hurt the poor, especially homeowners on fixed incomes. They make some good points.
This unstoppable force is opposed by an immovable object in the form of Silver Schools Superintendent William Hawkins. Facebook has a lot of questions and opinions on the bond issue, and if you want to hear what Hawkins thinks, just post that you plan to vote no on the bond. You will probably get a calm, rational answer from “Silver Consolidated Schools,” which is actually Hawkins. He seems to spend a lot of time on Facebook (and elsewhere) personally answering objections.
His good-natured answers inevitably end with a link to improvesilverschools.org, where you’ll find 96 slides with enough statistics and graphs to make your eyes glaze over. You’ll see pictures of buildings falling apart, comparisons with other communities, details of the planned improvements and a lot more. Even if you disagree on the bond, we’re lucky to have Hawkins defending the kids and inviting them into his office for chess matches.
One important project is to demolish and rebuild PK-12 Cliff School. If you’re from the Gila valley, this seems like a winner. You get a new school, funded largely by taxpayers in the more populous parts of the county. But why was your school neglected so long that it can’t be repaired?
Another project is to fix drainage at the Ben Altamirano Sports Complex. They let adults play on the soccer fields there (as I did), so they’ll have personal experience (as I did) of the terrible condition of those fields. There are also plans for major fixes at Stout, Harrison Schmitt, Jose Barrios, Sixth Street, La Plata and Silver High. But some of the grade schools may be closed rather than improved because of decreased enrollment. We seem to be having fewer children now than in the ancient past when the schools were built.
You might argue that the tax jump is too much at once. Why not raise money for renovations in chunks, rather than all at once? The reason is that the state is offering matching funds now that may not be available later. For every $63 the community raises, the state will match $37. If we wait (or vote down the bond), we’ll get less later.
Here’s why I’m going to vote for the bond, even though it will cost me a lot without giving me any direct benefits: According to a recent prediction, Social Security will start running short of money in 2033, and Medicare in 2031. That’s about when many of today’s kids will start voting. What if their first experience of politics and taxes is when older people tell them their schools don’t matter? Will they tell older folks that Social Security and Medicare don’t matter?
I read opinions on Facebook in preparing this column. Some people said that their kids had grown up and moved elsewhere, so they didn’t care about funding schools. Well, how about crime? Do you care whether kids learn enough to function in society and make a living?
My child and grandchildren live elsewhere too, but I’m still part of this town. We’re not going to have a good old age here if we pick a fight with the kids who will grow up and control our fate.