FISD Voters Speak Up On Propositions

May 07, 2008 - 16:40:32 CDT.

A LITTLE SHY when it came to introducing himself on Friday night during the opening ceremonies of the 2008 American Cancer Society Relay For Life in Gillespie County was one of the youngest participants, Grant Glover, 3½. He let his mom, Tiffany Glover, do the talking to Fredericksburg Mayor Jeryl Hoover and others attending event. Standard-Radio Post Photo by Yvonne Hartmann

Four candidates, a $4.1 million facilities improvement bond that will not result in a tax increase and a $60,000 additional tax exemption that has the potential to limit school programs are on the Saturday, May 10, ballot in a Fredericksburg Independent School District election that has already drawn a record number of voters.

As of the close of early voting yesterday, 1,679 people had cast ballots, election clerk Connie Crenwelge said.

Voting hours Saturday at Fredericksburg Middle School Cafeteria, 110 W. Travis, are 7 a.m .-7 p.m.

Early votes for the election far exceed the total vote count in the last three elections.

In 2004, 998 voted, in 2003 the number was 741 and in 2002, 1,204.

In 2000, when another bond proposal was on the ballot, a total of 2,121 voted with 821 cast early, and in 1986 the vote total was 2,128.

At issue Saturday will be the selection of three of the four candidates for seats on the FISD Board of Trustees.

James Hejl is the only incumbent and challengers are Lorrie Hess, Leola Mills and Kay Stech. Regardless of the election’s outcome, the number of women on the board will at least double as current trustees Mike Sagebiel and Tracy Laratta chose not to seek another term.

Also on the ballot are two propositions:

•The first is a proposal to add an extra $60,000 ad valorem tax exemption for FISD property owners who are disabled or over the age of 65.

•The second is a $4.1 million facilities improvement bond package that will pay for the replacement of the heating and air conditioning system and the roof of the main building at Fredericksburg High School, add several classrooms at Fredericksburg Elementary School and other items on a district checklist (enumerated later in this article).

Candidates Address

FISD Propositions

All four trustee candidates oppose the first proposition and favor the second.

On The Extra

Tax Exemption …

Passage of the additional exemption “will directly affect the students as well as the teachers, and overall it will affect our community,” Mrs. Stech said. “When you drive by any of the FISD campuses, you can tell that our community supports our school system. I would ask voters to think about a city or town where they may have noticed that the schools are not being well maintained and think about the overall community. I believe that, where you have a community that supports the school, you have a growing community.”

Mrs. Hess said that she “can understand why someone would want to reduce their expenses. In fact, in my business of personal financial planning, I encourage my clients to reduce their expenses whenever the cost doesn’t represent a priority or value. However, if the expense represents something of great value to my client, it is never an appropriate place to make a cut.”

Education is the community’s greatest opportunity, she said. “For that reason, I believe that each person needs to support public education in order to keep our community strong. I am against the exemption.”

Ms. Mills said that, because the number of property owners 65 and older in the district is over three times as large as the state average, “this exemption would have a greater impact on this school district.”

Hejl agreed that “this exemption will hit our district much harder than districts with younger populations and tax revenues based on a large business and manufacturing base.”

“It will shift a greater tax burden on younger families in the district, many of whom work in the service industry,” he said. “These are the families who have trouble finding affordable housing and who can least afford this tax burden.”

The candidates noted that the lost revenue to the district -- estimated at approximately $360,000 the first year and increasing in succeeding years -- will not result in a lower amount of property tax money sent to the state under Chapter 41 provisions (which this year amounted to $6,354,000).

“Nor will we be able to obtain additional funding from other tax sources within the county,” Ms. Mills said.

“It is entirely possible that in a few years this exemption may cause a loss of $2-$3 million as more people reach the age of 65,” Hejl said.

“I feel the FISD is frugal with our tax dollars since our per-pupil expenditure is seven percent less than the state average,” Ms. Mills said.

“It is no small thing to reduce the budget by $360,000,” Mrs. Hess added. “Our administrators do a good job of evaluating expenditures, finding synergies and looking for cost reduction opportunities. Operating within the current budget is already a challenge. A reduction in these revenues cannot help but have a negative effect on the FISD and later on our community.”

On The Bond Proposal …

“All of the facilities improvements are very necessary at the present time,” Hejl said. “The district could probably fund most of them through the regular budget, but it would take a few years.”

Ms. Mills agreed that “it is much more cost effective and fiscally responsible to maintain what we have. It is always much more expensive to repair and replace things if we wait.”

“Upkeep is a necessity for any property and with upkeep there are expenses,” Mrs. Stech said. “Other items listed are for expansion due to growth and overcrowding in classrooms. I am proud to live in a community where our leaders acknowledge upkeep and growth needs.”

“Interest rates have dropped significantly over the last few months,” Mrs. Hess added, “and the FISD will be able to use 100 percent of the funds raised through a bond issue. In contrast, using other revenues to fund these improvements is not nearly as efficient.”

Hejl noted that “because of the district’s designation as a ‘property wealthy’ district, we keep only 69 cents on the dollar of local tax revenue. In order to fund $4.1 million in improvements, we would have to generate almost $6 million in tax revenue with approximately $1.9 million of that subject to recapture by the state.”

“I would rather use 100 cents of every bond dollar issued rather than only 69 cents of every tax dollar raised,” Mrs. Hess agreed, adding that “It is similar to a home. If you don’t keep up with maintenance on your home when problems first appear, then the projects simply become bigger and more expensive.”

“Also, the bond would not increase taxes and would only extend the bond payments at their present amount by two years to 2015 instead of 2013,” Ms. Mills said. “This is like someone telling you that you can have a larger house for the same monthly payment by extending your repayment time by two years.”

The bond will necessitate no tax rate increase, Hejl added. “It will be funded through refinancing of existing bonds with those bonds maturing two yeas later than they would otherwise.”

Favoring The

Additional Exemption

Kermit Sultemeier, who submitted the petition that put the proposal for the additional tax exemption for those disabled or over 65 on the ballot, maintained that $60,000 represented a “meaningful exemption based on current valuations” which he contended have doubled and tripled in the past 25 years.

Regarding the loss of funds to the FISD, Sultemeier said that “if budget restraint will not cover the small loss of revenue to the district, choices need to be made to get us back to the mission of public schools.”

He recommended that “if each program were objectively reviewed to determine the degree of participation and its value, we may find that we could eliminate courses that are no longer useful in today’s economy. We may find that in Fredericksburg, we need to train plumbers, electricians, rock masons, service workers and other skills. Not everyone can or wants to go to college.”

Just The Facts

Superintendent Marc Williamson, who along with trustees, conducted a public forum April 17 to offer information on both propositions, just wants voters to make their decision based on facts.

“I have heard and seen a great deal of misinformation about the issue,” he said. “I think it is important to get the real facts.

“It boils down to the fact that some people may get a monetary tax deduction depending on factors such as when their property values were originally frozen and the value of their homestead,” he said.

“They must weigh that against the effects of the funding loss to the district which will occur and the subsequent effect on salaries and programs.”

Trustees voted last week to proceed with the bid process on HVAC and roof work at the high school.

“As we have said from the beginning, the high school project was one that needed to be done regardless of the outcome of the bond,” he said. “In order to get started the day school is out, we had to start the process of bidding now.”

Paying for the project with bond money “would save us 31 cents out of every dollar on the project,” he said, because bond money is not subject to Chapter 41 recapture from the state.