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When I first heard about the Davis School District bond election I started with my default position of not being anxious to give any public entity an open line of credit – certainly not a quarter of a billion dollars in open credit that could cost me hundreds of extra dollars per year in taxes – without solid justification for why it was necessary and a plan for how it would be used.
After doing some more research I can see that this is not “just in case” money as it first appeared and although the wording of the issue on the ballots is such that they can raise taxes to pay for the bonds they have shown through past performance that they do not desire to raise taxes and very well may be able to pay for the bonds without increasing taxes. Courtesy of that history of their commitment to bond frugally and the fact that there is a need for school infrastructure growth in the district I am willing to support this bond issue.
4 replies on “Davis School District Bond Election”
I too have occasionally supported school district bond elections. But not always. As you say, each one requires study. Matters such as the district’s overall debt ratio and what it has done with increased revenues from increased growth must be considered. I like best the bonds that are directly tied to specific projects, because it’s easier to see where the money is going.
I agree that bonds tied to specific projects are the easiest to support. Ideally I would like to see one bond for one project rather than a multi-project roll-up bond issue like this one, but sometimes the growth and need are two great to insist upon that level of granularity.
The wording that will be on the ballot is a nightmare. This is a bond that should pass. It will not increase the amount of taxes we pay, will be well used, is definitely needed and will even help the economy and save the district money in construction costs, but I think it’s doomed because the wording is so confusing. Thanks for your analysis.
If I were left to decide based on the wording on the ballot I would be voting against the measure – thankfully I looked further. On the other hand, I am not convinced that it will fail. There are altogether too many people in Davis County who can be persuaded to do anything “for the children” – possibly enough to pass this bond issue even with the confusing/discouraging wording on the ballot.
I would not depend on many people doing more research on the issue, but I would expect that it has at least a 50% chance of passing because it’s about the sacred cow of money for education.