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Letter: HVAC a ‘we want,’ not a ‘we need’ project
Op-Ed · April 16, 2008
Not content to limit their spending to the torrent of tax money that showers down on them, the West Branch School Board is asking that we advance them more money in the form of a $3 million-plus bond issue. Their mantra, “Care for Kids” roughly translates to the more common “It’s for the Children.” The use of these proverbs is intended to lay an extremely heavy burden of guilt on anyone cold-hearted enough to harbor even the slightest doubt as to the veracity of their asking.
Most children have tried the familiar gambit, “All the other kids are doing it.” as justification for permission to do something. Our School Board is using this same rationale on us. Currently it is all the rage to install geothermal HVAC systems in schools. If West Branch does not get geothermal all the other schools will make fun of us. If it is such a good idea we should go for 30 million and do all our public buildings.
Those of us who do not “Care for Kids” enough to let West Branch education reach into our pockets for more money should consider the following:
A host of federal agencies work full time shoveling tax money out to schools. Only a lack of imagination prevents the State of Iowa from heaping more tax money on schools. A big chunk of property tax goes to schools. Sales taxes nickel-and-dime us on behalf of schools. A relentless, all-powerful teachers union is dedicated to bludgeoning lawmakers into reducing teacher workloads and extracting every cent possible from taxpayers. The net result of all this spending can be summed up in one equation: More money = dumber the kids.
One has to ask, “How much is enough”? I am not against the new HVAC system, only how it is to be paid for. The school board’s job is to prioritize projects on their to-do list and budget payment out of the current gush of revenue.
The new HVAC system is not needed to solve an emergency situation. Rather it has all the earmarks of a “We want,” not a “We need” project.
Our economy is evidently headed downward, inflation is rampant, the dollar is losing value, the worth of our assets is evaporating and you know what food and fuel prices are doing. Now is not the time to further cripple our personal, somewhat dire economic prospects by agreeing to an increase in taxes just to fatten an already extremely well-funded school system.
Impose fiscal restraint on the school board by voting NO to this bond issue.
Willard Salemink
West Branch
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