Reader urges a No vote on School Board referendum

I am left to wonder how the High Point Regional Board of Education could even propose a $13 million bond referendum given the economic crisis that we are in. Is our so called “education system” that totally removed from reality? People have been laid off from their jobs, had their wages cut or haven’t received a wage increase for several years. People can’t afford to buy food, heat their homes, obtain required medical treatment, pay their mortgages, etc. People have lost their homes through foreclosure. But the High Point board even wants to spend $4,365,299 of our tax dollars, plus interest, on “Athletic Improvements” that include a million dollars of synthetic turf (not including the prep work), $425,000 for field lighting, $856,299 for “Other Allowable Costs”, etc. No, you can’t eat the synthetic turf, but if you can’t afford to light your home you could try sitting on the synthetic turf and asking them to turn our $425,000 lights on for you. The High Point board is touting the “annual savings” that this new debt will supposedly provide to us taxpayers. But these “annual savings” were calculated based on the school’s fiscal year, not a calendar or tax year, and using numbers (percent share) that were published by the NJ Dept. of Education for use only in the 2009-10 school budget and that are not valid for use in calculations relating to the 2010-11 school budget. The “percent share” numbers that are required to accurately do these 2010-11 calculations will probably not be published by the state until March 2010. Additionally, based on a five-year history, I have found that these “percent share” numbers have varied by over 25 percent for Sussex Borough, about 21 percent for Branchville, over 11 percent for Lafayette, about 9 percent for Wantage and about 7 percent for Frankford. So please don’t rely on the “annual savings” quoted by the High Point school board. Additionally, what is the service life of some of the items being purchased? Could we have to replace some of them two or three times before we even finish paying for the first one? Personally, based on the present economic crisis, I have told the High Point board that the only acceptable dollar amount for a bond issue at this time is zero! I also told them that it is time for Mission Impossible, they must start making drastic cuts so that they can start doing some of the required repairs and improvements out of their 2010-11 operating budget while also making sure that no taxpayer in any of the five sending municipalities sees a tax increase from High Point Regional in 2010. Please, on Tuesday, Jan. 26, get out and vote NO on this $13 million referendum. William H. Gettler Wantage Township