We Cant Afford a $20 Million School Construction Bond

School Taxes Up 33% School Debt Up 66% School and City Debt Service Costs Nearly $9 Million School Enrollment Essentially Stable Benet Costs Sky Rocketing 2% Property Tax Cap Offers No Protection

The Rye City School District has proposed a $20 million bond for school construction at the Middle and High School campus. The bond referendum will be held on Tuesday, December 13th. Heres why we cant afford this bond.

School Taxes Up 33%

Based on data provided by the School District, property taxes will need to increase by 33% over the next ve years partly because of this bond. (City taxes may go up 4% annually as well.) Forecasts by a taxing body usually prove to be low. For example, this forecast fails to include the salary and benet expenses of the additional teachers and aides needed to staff the new classrooms. If school taxes increase 33% or more over ve years will your income increase 33%? Are we going back to the early 2000s when taxes rose by double digits almost annually?

School Debt Up 66%

If the construction bond passes, School District debt, one of the main drivers of increased taxes, will grow by a whopping 66% from $30.3 million to over $50 million. Add in the Citys debt and we have bonded debt of $70 million. But we also have well over $100 million in non-bonded debtthe unfunded retirement commitments made to School and City employees. Can a city of just 15,000 really carry a debt load of nearly $200 million?

$9 Million In Debt Service Costs

Rye taxpayers will pay nearly $9 million annually just to carry the bonded debt of the School and City. Obviously, if we had less debt, a signicant amount of this money could be put to better use.

School Enrollment Essentially Stable

Based on School District estimates, enrollment in the Middle and High Schools will grow, on average, at less than two percent annually between now and 2016. Thats about two students per class over the entire ve year period. Given the times we live in, can we really afford a $20 million construction project to accommodate such minimal and temporary growth? The accompanying graph compares the growth in enrollment to that of taxes and debt over the next ve years.

Benet Costs Sky Rocketing

Health and retirement costs are two other big drivers of tax increases. The accompanying graph shows how these costs have exploded over the past ve years. The Schools retirement costs are up by 50% while the Citys are up over 85%.

2% Property Tax Cap Offers No Protection

The recently passed 2% Property Tax Cap wont help us. Under the law, the debt service costs of this bond are exempt from the cap. So the School Board can propose a budget with a cap busting tax increase and will only need a simple majority vote for approval.Very few school budgets fail to pass.

Strong Schools Are A Moral Imperative And A Sound Investment

The Rye school system is vital to the long-term strength of our community. But these days, nancial reality is forcing most organizations and households to review their priorities. The School District has a $70 million operating budget and reserves in excess of $15 million...more than enough to fund any necessary upgrades without driving property taxes higher. While we support the School Board and the Administration, we ask them to do what most of us are doing and tighten their belts.

On December 13th Vote No On The $20 Million School Construction Bond

Committee For Strong Sustainable Schools
Sources for all data cited above were School District and City reports