To the editor:
Shawano residents should vote no on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and oppose the Shawano Community Middle School’s push for a $14 million property tax increase.
This referendum takes place during an off-year election, when voter turnout is low and the polls will be flooded with union members and bureaucrats, so it is critically important for taxpayers to defeat this multimillion-dollar property tax increase.
The $14 million property tax increase on the ballot is supposed to include the construction costs for Shawano Community Middle School and the interest on the debt incurred, but we can’t afford the price tag. Some of the proposed construction includes $598,000 for updating the gym, $755,000 for fixing up the locker room and $869,346 for modernizing the kitchen. One of the most expensive plans calls for $6.4 million to upgrade the heating system and add rooftop air-conditioning units.
Besides this property tax hike that is on the ballot, The Shawano Leader also reported Oct. 15 that the city property tax levy is expected to increase in 2016, without a referendum, by $64,000, or 1.4 percent, to $4.7 million. And the news story went on to say that the bulk of the tax levy increased every year since 2012, and the city’s general fund would increase another 0.4 percent to a total of $6.73 million.
We are still recovering from the market correction a few years ago and we cannot afford to continue to add to the problem. With more that $29 million of debt from the new Hillcrest Primary School, we simply can’t afford to take on millions of more dollars of new debt for Shawano Community Middle School right now, nor can working families and those with fixed incomes afford a spike in their property taxes.
I urge Shawano residents to vote no on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to reject the $14 million property tax increase referendum for Shawano Community Middle School’s construction cost and servicing the additional debt.
Jim Tobin,
Shawano
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