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Letter: Don’t propose referendum on speculations
Op-Ed · February 15, 2018
A few weeks ago the West Branch Times editorial suggested that a new, lower cost $15 million dollar school referendum plan may pass but also suggests that it would usurp the original plan to the degree that it would not be practical.
Even though there is no new plan, yet. I would call this speculation.
Another editorial in the West Branch Times also suggested that some people may have voted no because they didn’t really know what they were voting on because of what they may have read online. The premise being that materials posted social media may not have been based on facts. At least that is how I interpreted it. I don’t know how anybody could prove that to be a fact, but I would suggest that there was all kinds of very good information on the various online social media sites starting with our high school website. Of course anything can be posted online or placed in print whether it is accurate or not. We all have to determine what is credible or not.
Surprisingly, the Times editor even suggests the “taming” of social media. Should we suggest the taming of newspaper articles or news broadcasts because we disagree with the presentation or rhetoric? Is a school referendum’s failure all it takes to promote limiting our First Amendment rights? I think the editor should rethink that position.
When it comes to the referendum, the School Board should reconsider the overall situation starting with realizing the staggering amount of money being spent on infrastructure. The PPEL has provided something like $10 million dollars since it started in 1990. Over $3 million was spent for the geothermal referendum that resulted in higher operating cost ever since. The new gym and now the new facilities building will continue to increase the cost of daily operations in the form of janitorial, maintenance, repairs, and utilities. And, of course, there are potentially plans to expand both of those areas in the future. There is simply no end to the spending. Creating needs based on lack of controlling the circumstances and speculation should not be the basis for a referendum.
If you really want to know why so many of us voted no, it is because all the spending and tax increases are not sustainable, which is being proven every time a new school budget comes up. It is time to take a step back and just maybe learn to work within the parameters that are here. It can be done just like it was in the past.
Rod Hanson
West Branch
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