Vote NO on the $13.8 million capital project proposal on Nov. 19, 2013

After careful consideration, I cannot support the Chatham Central Schools $13.8 million capital project proposal on Nov. 19 and will vote no. Here’s why:
 
First is the lack of transparency in the estimates. There is no breakdown of components of the various costs. Especially troublesome was the jump in total costs from $12.5 million to $13.8 million without a single word of explanation.

Secondly, and of nearly equal concern is the fact that more than ½ of the money will be spent before a single dime reaches an academic classroom, classroom supplies, or a teacher or teacher assistant. 52% of the money goes towards a gym, fitness room and parking/roadways.

Thirdly, the costs that were given for the gym and fitness room seem more worthy of 24 Hour Fitness or Planet Fitness rather than our modest-sized school district. Nearly $4.5 million for the gym and fitness room - compare that with the $9 million that the University of Michigan (with nearly 43,000 students vs. our current enrollment of 1158) will spend on their new athletic facility. The cost of the gym and fitness room is more than $3,800 per CCS student, more than 18 times the UMich cost per student.

Part of the $13.8 million cost will be met by using all of the district’s capital reserve funds of $2.07 million, leaving nothing in capital reserves. Since these reserves have been used and replenished from time to time in the past, it is not unreasonable to assume they will need to be replenished in the future. The only source of funds will be future taxes.

The proposal is being marketed as requiring no tax increase. I suspect, but do not have the data to prove, that if the reserves were not used to offset part of the costs, they would no longer be able to make this statement. In fact, if the costs of the proposal were scaled back, it is entirely possible that there could actually be a reduction in taxes, as other districts have been able to do.

In July the board revisited the proposal to see if there were any parts of it that could be scaled back, reduced, or eliminated. On August 13, the board decided that there was not a single part of the entire $13.8 million that was not 100% absolutely essential and could not be accomplished in a less expensive manner – there was not one cent of savings to be found!

The district has stated that if the capital proposal is defeated “a new consolidation blueprint would need to be developed which would involve making compromises and eliminating some of items [sic] that support our educational program.”

I find it hard to believe that this consolidation cannot be successfully completed at a lower cost without compromising our educational program. Let’s defeat this financially unrealistic proposal and hope we are presented with a more commonsense solution we can live with.

Vote NO on the Chatham Central Schools $13.8 million capital project proposal on Nov. 19.

Thank you.

David Levow