By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Waterford Union High School district officials are working vigorously to get the word out about an upcoming referendum that will ask voters if they favor allocating $12.2 million toward a revamp of the field house and other athletic amenities.
After months of discussion, the WUHS School Board in late January officially activated the green light and agreed to move forward with the referendum, which will be included in the spring primary election April 5.
In the past month, Superintendent Keith Brandstetter said he has been making the rounds at various events, including events within the four K-8 districts that feed into WUHS.
The next venue is the Waterford Area Chamber of Commerce’s spring expo event this Saturday, which is fittingly taking place within the high school. Speaking to the communication efforts at a School Board meeting Feb. 29, Brandstetter said he and other district staffers will man a booth throughout the event.
As he has gone out into the community, Brandstetter said most of the feedback he has received has been positive, though there have been dissenters, as evidenced by a letter to the editor in the Feb. 26 edition of the Waterford Post.
“Spending more than $12 million of taxpayer money is a financial burden we don’t need for a facility that is not necessary,” Waterford resident Randy Smith wrote in the letter.
Smith’s letter also took aim at an assertion from district officials about the amount levied in taxes to fund high school operations. Brandstetter said taxes are expected to go down, in the long run, as existing debt sunsets.
But Smith in his letter laid out a list of concerns, including an increase in annual operating costs once the upgrades are implemented.
School Board President Kevin Malchine said he believed it was important to address residents’ concerns as they are raised.
“The goal is to keep people as aware as possible,” Malchine said.
WUHS has created an FAQ page on the referendum. It can be viewed at http://wuhsathleticcomplex.weebly.com/frequently-asked-questions.html.
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The village can’t afford around the clock staffing for the fire department which at this time isn’t even a paramedic service. So why vote 12 million for school stuff that’s not necessarily. My taxes went up $500 last year alone. Let’s get our priorities straight.
To clarify, the village and the school district are two separate taxing entities.
I understand that but it still comes out of our pockets on tax bills. And the same can be said for Rochester and tichigan Fire departments staffing.those departments to my knowledge also have no paramedic program. So back to my previous comment money needs to be spent on higher priorities.
It’s great to have but are all other covered like the junior high and other things that where a concern?
It’s hard to understand exactly what is what. Not enough info on this article. Reading between the lines it sounds as though a current loan is about to be paid? And instead of letting taxes fall some, instead we should vote to keep paying huge amounts of taxes under the guise of, “It won’t cost you anything?”
Come on! If I pay my mortgage off that doesn’t mean I should just arbitrarily buy another house because, “It won’t really cost me anything.”
This village is taxing its homeowners beyond reason. First a more expensive policing plan, then a faulty re-assessment, and now the school district. What’s next?