Gary Lake apparently does not understand the importance of words. He said, in so many words, to E. Hudson and the rest of the DAC audience: We need to exaggerate how bad the middle school is and how cheap it would be to build a new one, that way the voters will approve the bond.
Why would he want to do that? Because of several reasons:
There were TWO BEST grants offered to Ebert and D 22, both of which he turned down. One was for $15 million that Ebert decided to offer matching funds of 1% because, as he stated, that’s what Yoder got and he thought Ellicott deserved the same deal. It was turned down and Peyton got the grant.
Then, the BEST people counter offered Ebert a different grant that is being reported as anywhere from $6 million to $18.3 million dollar grant for a 13% match. Ebert declined. Would we have been able to afford that match, I asked Hudson? Yes, because we have that much in reserve and cash. Ebert did not take the offer.
Don Baum, from George K. Baum and Company out of Denver, a company that has other financial dealings with D22, was there at the meeting to give a talk on the legalities of bonds and what D22 could legally do. Keeping in mind, of course, that Baum and Company are in the business of selling “creative” financing to school districts. Hudson reports that the first thing Baum mentioned is that they need to form a community committee (consisting of basically the people in the room). Baum, said Hudson, was actually telling them true things about election laws and such and then said that they needed to start telling everyone what a great idea it is to go ahead and approve this new bond – Baum provided handouts, of which one said, (paraphrased) Everyone needs to understand that the total assessed value of the property in Ellicott is 2.5 million and some change and state law says that we can only bond up to 20% of that evaluation and bond capacity 5.9 million and some change, including our outstanding bond of $2.2 million as of Dec. 1, so the max amount of money that we can borrow is $3.7 million – at current assessed value.
He then went on with some other information but said later the 2012 total assessed value is going down and some people say it will be as much as 25-40%.
What that could mean is as the value of our D22 property goes down our ability to borrow also goes down, if it goes down more than 22% we cannot borrow what they are proposing.
What they are proposing is that we bond $2.375 million per as our requirement (match) to the BEST grant.
Hudson saw the Board’s new “plan” for an $18 million dollar middle school and as far as he knows only ONE plan was paid for and created. Within this plan is the demolition of the current middle school.
I see several issues with this -
One: we have been getting told for the last five years that there is NOTHING wrong with the current middle school. So, if that is true, why would we tear it down. Why wouldn’t we use it instead for the preschool kids and the admin and get rid of the admin trailer?
Two: there is an extra cost of demolishing the middle school that is figured into the $18 million dollar cost. Why demolish the old school? There is more than a few acres of land available for a new middle school – such as,
Behind the middle school: POLITICAL SUBDIVISION EX 29.3 acres
Middle school sits: POLITICAL SUBDIVISION EX 10.7 acres
Elementary land info: POLITICAL SUBDIVISION EX 28.51 acres
HIGH SCHOOL Land – OWNED by US BANK! POLITICAL SUBDIVISION EX 5.35 acres
Total number of acres that D22 owns: 73.86 acres
What this tells me is that there is ample ground to keep the middle school – that they are saying is a perfectly good school – and using other land to build a new one, if they manage to get a BEST grant – hopefully without a new bond!
IF D22 is able to secure a BEST grant, without a bond, it would be better to get a school that does NOT cost $18 million dollars. Hudson was shown ONE plan, so I would make the assumption that other “plans” were not even created. Who does business like that? Anyone who plans to spend that much money has at least 2 or 3 “plans” that are presented to them at different costs so that the school board can choose a realistic one.
In addition, since money is a constant concern to Ebert – which is why, he claims he’s frozen salaries – what is the plan to pay for “upkeep” of such an expensive building? It will need to be heated, cooled, repairs, technology for it and upgrades when needed, staff, utilities, cleaning it, etc.?
God only knows who estimated that a middle school for 350 students needed to cost the community this much money. In the new school plans there are a total of 12 classrooms, that’s it . . . .huge auditorium, huge lunch room, preschool and offices, beautiful landscaping, no play equipment was shown.
Twelve classrooms, at the estimated 350 students, would put 29.1 students in each class. We have approx. 216 students in the middle school now, according to Hudson. In October the middle school was as high as 225 and has been steadily decreasing since then. I personally know several people who have pulled their kids from this district and at the rate we are going I can only imagine that parents who have a choice will continue to do so. So, based on current projections, Ebert has the number of middle schoolers growing, but reality shows the middle schoolers decreasing – so which is it and should we build for what we have or what we might have? It’s a question that deserves some debate, of which our board never seems to have.
The “community” committee that the board is forming (listen closely and see if they actually advertise it or allow anyone in it that they don’t want) is being created for the ONE purpose of trying to pass a bond on D22 taxpayers. Period.
What would that mean for your household? The numbers are fuzzy and no one seems to be able to reach the same amount, no matter how hard they seem to try. Hudson says that he’s tried to get to the same numbers the board has, and yet, even with his 25+ years of budgeting for the U.S. Army, he has not been able to recreate what they are claiming.
According to Hudson,
All great questions and points and food for thought.
To many of the board members, it seems to be more important to make fun of the concerns of the community instead of taking what they say and seriously considering the implications. At the meeting, Lake and Dickinson took the time of the audience to make fun of what has been said on the blog (which is fine, their maturity level is apparent) and Dickinson was basically throwing crumbled up balls of paper at Lake. Our kids in D22 are more mature than the board members. Antics of the school board left several in the audience perplexed as to what exactly they were joking and laughing about, but Hudson knew.
Let’s get some of the dead weight off this current board and start moving in a more realistic path.
There were TWO BEST grants offered to Ebert and D 22, both of which he turned down. One was for $15 million that Ebert decided to offer matching funds of 1% because, as he stated, that’s what Yoder got and he thought Ellicott deserved the same deal. It was turned down and Peyton got the grant.
Then, the BEST people counter offered Ebert a different grant that is being reported as anywhere from $6 million to $18.3 million dollar grant for a 13% match. Ebert declined. Would we have been able to afford that match, I asked Hudson? Yes, because we have that much in reserve and cash. Ebert did not take the offer.
Don Baum, from George K. Baum and Company out of Denver, a company that has other financial dealings with D22, was there at the meeting to give a talk on the legalities of bonds and what D22 could legally do. Keeping in mind, of course, that Baum and Company are in the business of selling “creative” financing to school districts. Hudson reports that the first thing Baum mentioned is that they need to form a community committee (consisting of basically the people in the room). Baum, said Hudson, was actually telling them true things about election laws and such and then said that they needed to start telling everyone what a great idea it is to go ahead and approve this new bond – Baum provided handouts, of which one said, (paraphrased) Everyone needs to understand that the total assessed value of the property in Ellicott is 2.5 million and some change and state law says that we can only bond up to 20% of that evaluation and bond capacity 5.9 million and some change, including our outstanding bond of $2.2 million as of Dec. 1, so the max amount of money that we can borrow is $3.7 million – at current assessed value.
He then went on with some other information but said later the 2012 total assessed value is going down and some people say it will be as much as 25-40%.
What that could mean is as the value of our D22 property goes down our ability to borrow also goes down, if it goes down more than 22% we cannot borrow what they are proposing.
What they are proposing is that we bond $2.375 million per as our requirement (match) to the BEST grant.
Hudson saw the Board’s new “plan” for an $18 million dollar middle school and as far as he knows only ONE plan was paid for and created. Within this plan is the demolition of the current middle school.
I see several issues with this -
One: we have been getting told for the last five years that there is NOTHING wrong with the current middle school. So, if that is true, why would we tear it down. Why wouldn’t we use it instead for the preschool kids and the admin and get rid of the admin trailer?
Two: there is an extra cost of demolishing the middle school that is figured into the $18 million dollar cost. Why demolish the old school? There is more than a few acres of land available for a new middle school – such as,
Behind the middle school: POLITICAL SUBDIVISION EX 29.3 acres
Middle school sits: POLITICAL SUBDIVISION EX 10.7 acres
Elementary land info: POLITICAL SUBDIVISION EX 28.51 acres
HIGH SCHOOL Land – OWNED by US BANK! POLITICAL SUBDIVISION EX 5.35 acres
Total number of acres that D22 owns: 73.86 acres
What this tells me is that there is ample ground to keep the middle school – that they are saying is a perfectly good school – and using other land to build a new one, if they manage to get a BEST grant – hopefully without a new bond!
IF D22 is able to secure a BEST grant, without a bond, it would be better to get a school that does NOT cost $18 million dollars. Hudson was shown ONE plan, so I would make the assumption that other “plans” were not even created. Who does business like that? Anyone who plans to spend that much money has at least 2 or 3 “plans” that are presented to them at different costs so that the school board can choose a realistic one.
In addition, since money is a constant concern to Ebert – which is why, he claims he’s frozen salaries – what is the plan to pay for “upkeep” of such an expensive building? It will need to be heated, cooled, repairs, technology for it and upgrades when needed, staff, utilities, cleaning it, etc.?
God only knows who estimated that a middle school for 350 students needed to cost the community this much money. In the new school plans there are a total of 12 classrooms, that’s it . . . .huge auditorium, huge lunch room, preschool and offices, beautiful landscaping, no play equipment was shown.
Twelve classrooms, at the estimated 350 students, would put 29.1 students in each class. We have approx. 216 students in the middle school now, according to Hudson. In October the middle school was as high as 225 and has been steadily decreasing since then. I personally know several people who have pulled their kids from this district and at the rate we are going I can only imagine that parents who have a choice will continue to do so. So, based on current projections, Ebert has the number of middle schoolers growing, but reality shows the middle schoolers decreasing – so which is it and should we build for what we have or what we might have? It’s a question that deserves some debate, of which our board never seems to have.
The “community” committee that the board is forming (listen closely and see if they actually advertise it or allow anyone in it that they don’t want) is being created for the ONE purpose of trying to pass a bond on D22 taxpayers. Period.
What would that mean for your household? The numbers are fuzzy and no one seems to be able to reach the same amount, no matter how hard they seem to try. Hudson says that he’s tried to get to the same numbers the board has, and yet, even with his 25+ years of budgeting for the U.S. Army, he has not been able to recreate what they are claiming.
According to Hudson,
The numbers they’ve put out are guesstimates, they are going to tell everyone that the new bond will cost $2.75 per $100K or roughly $33 per year per $100K. they are going to tell everyone that the new bond plus the old bond will add up to only 15.6 mills or $10 (both bonds) per month or $124 per year. All of this all depends on how much we need to borrow, borrow more will cost more, etc. Currently we are paying approx. $500 per household for the current bond, based on the avg. assessed value per house. Basically what it amounts to is that your property taxes are going up about $66 – 99 per year on top of the current $500 per house (avg). All of this is contingent on how much we need to borrow, how much we pay off, and how much we match the grant they are offering. No interaction was allowed from the audience, they did have the DAC there and some members from the SAC there and someone asked a math question that didn’t get answered well, and no matter what I do I can’t get the same numbers they put out, I get about double. At the end of the meeting Lake put out the following Comment (paraphrased): We need to exaggerate how bad the middle school is and how cheap it would be to build a new one, that way the voters will approve the bond.Keep in mind, this is the same school they have been claiming there is NOTHING wrong with for the previous five or so years!
Basically, the Vice President of the school board just asked the board and future committee to lie so that voters will pass a bond. We could just ask the BEST people for LESS money, they designed the building with heat pumps and solar panels, which isn’t bad, don’t get me wrong, but tear down and demolition costs add up quickly. Because they designed it this way is why it will cost 18 million – beautiful design , but it’s the cart before the horse in planning…………….now, based on these plans it will LOOK gorgeous – but why do we need an 18 million dollar middle school?
All great questions and points and food for thought.
To many of the board members, it seems to be more important to make fun of the concerns of the community instead of taking what they say and seriously considering the implications. At the meeting, Lake and Dickinson took the time of the audience to make fun of what has been said on the blog (which is fine, their maturity level is apparent) and Dickinson was basically throwing crumbled up balls of paper at Lake. Our kids in D22 are more mature than the board members. Antics of the school board left several in the audience perplexed as to what exactly they were joking and laughing about, but Hudson knew.
Let’s get some of the dead weight off this current board and start moving in a more realistic path.