I Support the $119M West Bend School Referendum…
October 31st, 2007 by FuzzTagged as: west bend.
…but only because a) my daughter will be going to public school in West Bend AND b) I don’t pay property taxes in West Bend. 
Otherwise, I’d think twice.
The West Bend schools, as they sit, are pretty screwed up. There was poor planning for growth, the schools themselves are in disrepair, and some schools are in really bad shape maintenance-wise. This entire problem is due to mismanagement by the school board. Now they need to do something to get the schools back in the right direction.
That being said, the people who actually pay taxes in the West Bend school district also need to do something to get rid of those who were incompetent enough to let the schools get to where they are now. This all would have been an easier pill to swallow had they made their plans known in advance and made incremental improvements.
But again… I don’t live in or own property in the district.
October 31st, 2007 at 11:55 am
The tax hike on this project would actually still keep West Bend a little less than the statewide average as far as how much they’re being taxed. And in most cases, the taxes paid during the first year are cut in half in years two or three. From what I gathered, on average, it’s $80 the first year (again on your average home) and then $40 the following and perhaps even less the following.
But you’re right on point with the folks allowing it to get this bad. It should NEVER get to this level anywhere, ever.
Kudos.
October 31st, 2007 at 11:55 am
As long as it isn’t you huh Fuzzy?
It ain’t me either and I oppose.
We have to stick up for other guy getting hosed Fuzz or it is all of us.
October 31st, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I think that the school board pretty much hosed West Bend already. There should have been referendums to fix Badger and Silverbrook and all of those elementary schools before, but they didn’t do that. Now West Bend is to a point where the entire district has outgrown the schools, and if they tackle everything all at once, they’ll save more than if they were to redo the schools little by little over the next 10-20 years. $119M is weighty, but it’s for an entire district, not just one school.
November 4th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
The current School Board is not the School Board that created the current problems, they are the board looking for a way to fix them. Also…West Bend has been “hosed” by the state of WI. We just do not get the $ we need to fund great school programing (What We Have) and take care of our aging school (What We Need To Do) at the same time. We need the $ that this referendum will collect to do both of these things, otherwise some hard decisions will need to be made by this school board that no one in thier right mind is going to like.