I hear a lot of, “he said, she said” going back and forth regarding the Toledo School Bond. People are claiming misinformation is being given. We need a new school. We don’t need a new school. Consolidate the schools. I’m retired. I don’t have any kids in the system. Earthquakes, HVAC, locusts and the plague.
There are truths and half-truths on both sides. But when you finally come down to it, disregarding everything the finger-pointers, tightwads, and spendthrifts are saying, the questing becomes simply, “Is this a good deal for Toledo?”
The State of Washington has said, ‘Toledo, if you pass this bond, we will supply $2.37 for every $1.00 you provide (and you get to keep the $1.00 in your community too).’ These state grant funds were already collected from taxpayers. The money was spread out across the entire state, not just from Toledo. There are approximately 2.7 million households in Washington. This means that Toledo households paid less than $7.00 each for these grant funds. The state did not offer us this money for repairs or consolidation. That was not an option for these funds. Many residents seem to believe that if we refuse the funds, we will not be taxed for them. The truth is, we already paid for these grant funds.
If Toledo does not pass the bond and accept these funds, they will go to another community.
Do we need a new school? Some say yes, others say no. Regardless, all seem to agree that the school we currently have has issues and money, whatever the amount, is needed.
I believe that we can all agree that the current school, if not already functionally obsolete, will be so one day. Some people say that our school is providing a fine education to our students. This is true. But the problem lies in what the education consists of. We may be producing America’s finest top-hat manufacturers, but if there is no need in the community, we are doing our students an extreme disservice.
If we want our children able to compete in tomorrow’s world, we must give them the correct tools. We can have a school that will produce the young adults that tomorrow needs, and gives them an advantage over their peers.
The consensus is that the bond will cost homeowners $0.99 per $1000.00. The pro-bond people believe that passing the bond will result in the tax increasing two cents per $1000 (from 2018 to 2019) when all other taxes are considered. Follow this assumption to its conclusion, and you will realize that we could be lowering our tax rate by $0.97 per $1000.00 by voting against the bond. So, what would the bond cost a Toledo resident with a $250,000.00 home? $247.50 per year. If the pro-bond people are correct, the taxes paid for this same home would increase $5.00 above what they are paying in 2018.
We invest $7 million and we get $25 million. Seems to me that a person would have to be a special kind of stupid to vote against this bond.
Benjamin Reynolds
Toledo
