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Health & Fitness

WE'RE ABOUT TO BE ROBBED!

BHUSD is trying to STEAL YOUR MONEY increasing real estate taxes without voter approval.

This Tuesday night (May 28) our school board is going to just go ahead and STEAL YOUR TAX MONEY – that’s exactly what ‘accelerating’ the Measure E bond issue means.  Like all good flimflams, the trick is to use weasley words to cheat unsuspecting innocents from their money.  Even better to sneak something in after a holiday weekend right before summer when no one is paying attention.
The one basic commitment of Measure E was to maintain the real estate taxes at $49 per $100k of assessed property value – that was how the entire measure was structured.   Bear with me for moment regarding a little math.  The financial calculation for Measure E as passed by the voters started with the tax rate, then by issuing toxic Capital Appreciation Bonds and using unrealistically high estimates of property value growth and low interest rates came up with an issuance timetable for the bonds.  The structure of the approved bond called for a total of $334m to be sold in various tranches over the course of a number of years – that was the only way to control the real estate taxes.
Once again our school board has shopped around for a legal opinion that will tell them what they want to hear and think they can just disregard any commitment to tax rates and ‘accelerate’ the bond.  Specifically they think they can just abandon the committed tax rate and issuance timetable to pick any tax rate they like while still issuing the incredibly toxic CABs.  This gets them all the money now without any responsibility to taxpayers.  The board’s position is that it can pick any tax rate it wants and take your money without so much as a ‘how do you do.’  BHUSD will be sued sure as little green apples and waste yet more money on lawyers defending this nonsense.
The whole idea of ‘acceleration’ doesn’t even hold water.  The only real number in the entire Measure E calculation was the tax rate and to now make the argument that the other assumptions are invalid, by definition means the entire Measure E legality is invalid.  To find otherwise a judge would effectively be authorizing unlimited taxing authority – and that’s unconstitutional.
The board’s argument that it is no longer bound by the tax rate commitment would be highly questionable under the very best of circumstances and when supported by a track record of exemplary cost control.  If only.  Per the Citizen’s Oversight Committee as of the end of last calendar year the district has spent the best part of $25m with only 10% actually being for construction – all the rest was for consultants, lawyers and architects.

                              Per COC - Measure E
Category          Spending to 12/31/2012        Percentage
Administration           $5,256,394                            22.3%
Architects                  $7,017,342                            29.7%
Attorneys                  $5,768,067                             24.4%
Construction              $2,421,833                             10.3%
Geotechnical                 $768,515                              3.3%
MEPC                         $2,058,606                              8.7%
Miscellaneous                $308,847                              1.3%
Total                      $23,599,604                           100.0%

Now the board is waving around a ‘new’ plan for the high school as some form of justification for its unconscionable tax grab.  Unfortunately, this ‘new’ master plan is a dog’s dinner rehash of prior bad plans that previous boards have passed over for good reason.  If the design made any sense our community would line up behind it but sadly it’s just a mess – and a repeat of the Roxbury Park fiasco with overbuilding, loss of green space and no concept of operating cost management.   If our school board is to maintain even a shred of credibility, the only course of action is to GO BACK TO THE VOTERS.  Speaking personally, I’d be more than happy to support a well-considered strategy (e.g., the Horace Mann plan is great!) but to continue with this tax grab to make a mess of the high school is beyond silly and will cost the district dearly in community support. I think it might have been Plato that warned us of the Ides of March, presidential recess appointments and schools boards playing fast and loose with real estate taxes, especially over the summer holidays.
For good governance please contact the BHUSD school board and tell them what you think.

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