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A tale of Two Bonds
Topic Started: May 20 2012, 09:56 PM (473 Views)
LPS Reformer
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
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Why Gull Lake passed its school bond issue and why Galesburg-Augusta lost (Julie Mack blog)

Published: Wednesday, May 09, 2012, 11:23 AM
Updated: Wednesday, May 09, 2012, 11:49 AM

By Julie Mack | jmack1@mlive.com The Kalamazoo Gazette

RICHLAND, MI -- On paper, the ballot requests look similar: Gull Lake Community Schools was seeking a $7.3 million bond and Galesburg-Augusta Community Schools was asking for $11.1 million.

Neither involved a tax increase. Instead, the districts were proposing to extend their current debt levies -- the governmental equivalent of refinancing your mortgage.

But when voters went to the polls Tuesday, the outcomes were starkly different. In Gull Lake 58 percent of voters approved their bond, with a vote of 1,256 to 915. In Galesburg, 66 percent of voters rejected both Proposal 1 (vote of 324 to 640) and Proposal 2 (vote of 327-638).

In fact, of the five school districts in the Kalamazoo area with multimillion-tax requests on Tuesday's ballot -- Gull Lake, Galesburg, Allegan, Bangor and White Pigeon -- Galesburg's two requests were the only ones rejected by voters.

So what happened?

It's not the composition of the communities: Both the Gull Lake and Galesburg school districts serve some of the most politically conservative, anti-tax areas of Kalamazoo County, and both have a mixed record with passing bond requests.

In this case, it's likely two factors were at work: Gull Lake was proposing to spend the money in a way that had widespread community support, while Galesburg was attempting to fund a much more controversial plan.

In addition, while no tax increase was involved, it was clear that the Galesburg plan would prove much more costly for its residents in the long run.

Let's examine the first factor.

Gull Lake was proposing to spend most of its bond issue on new technology, including personal devices for students. Voters liked that idea: In a professional survey commissioned by the district in January, two-thirds of survey respondents said they supported the bond proposal because it emphasized technology.

By contrast, the centerpiece of the Galesburg-Augusta proposal was using the bond issue to expand Galesburg-Augusta High School into a junior/senior high serving grades 7-12.

Galesburg school officials also commissioned a professional survey: That survey found that 55 percent residents would support an $11 million bond issue if taxes stayed the same. But only a third of survey respondents backed creation of a junior/senior high school.

So why would the Galesburg school board put an unpopular idea on the ballot?

"It's all about the community's dream and vision," Superintendent Tim Vagts said in January.

Only it turned to be more a vision and dream of the board than the community. Many residents didn't like the idea of a junior/senior high on principle, regardless of the cost: They simply didn't want 12- and 13-year-olds on the same campus as older teens.

On the financial side, outside of the "no tax increase" factor, the Gull Lake and Galesburg were quite different in terms of impact on taxpayers.

Gull Lake voters currently have a school debt levy of 4.2 mills. By approving Tuesday's request, the district will keep that debt levy for another 12 years.

But the amount at stake was relatively minimal: If the request was rejected, the tax rate would have dropped by 0.29 of a mill, or about $29 on a house with a market value of $200,000 and a taxable value of about $100,000.

By contrast, Galesburg has a current school debt levy of 7 mills. Currently, the levy is scheduled to drop to 6 mills in 2013 and continue to gradually decline until it expires 2030. School officials are proposing to keep the debt levy at 7 mills until 2033, then it would decline until the bond is paid off in 2037.

In short, compared to Gull Lake, the Galesburg request was asking voters to pay much more for much longer.

But clearly, it appears the deciding factor in the Galesburg request was likely disconnect between the board and the community on how the money would be spent.

More than a decade ago, when I first started covered school tax requests, a savvy school administrator told me the key to a successful tax request is surveying residents and than paying close attention to the survey results. His rule of thumb: Don't ask voters to approve something they don't want.

Julie Mack is a reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Contact her at jmack1@mlive.com or 269-350-0277
“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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LPS Reformer
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
I wonder if Randy even cares what the public thinks?

“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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