Mesa Public School Wants $250 Million From You!

Mesa Public Schools $250 Million Bonds

As reported in the East Valley Tribune, Mesa Public Schools or MPS is looking to hit Mesa's residents with a $250 million bond package for maintenance and repairs. That is Maintenance and repair for it's 87 campuses. If approved by voters, the bonds will be paid back with a tax levied on
on real estate, in other words your home.

Over the years Mesa residents have approved bond package after bond package after bond package. As a result Mesa Public Schools have become dependent on your taxes to sustain themselves. When they are short on money they go to the public trough to cover the shortfall, knowing darn well that you the public will always fund education with out question. Why because they kow we want what ia best for your kids. They play on our emotions.This is not an emotional issue.

While there my be a need for bonds and I do believe they have a purpose, I do not believe that they should be used for maintenance and repairs. If you are going to use credit (bonds) it should be used for something that outlives the payback period and returns something to you.

So before you vote to approve the bonds ask yourself and ask Mesa Public schools these simple questions. 1) What is the money going to be used for? 2) Whats the expected life of the item? 3) What is the payback period and will the item out live the payback period? If the answer to the last question is "NO" then the
vote on the bonds should be "NO"

Think before you vote. Ask yourself would I do the same with my on money?

Mesa Public Schools Wants You & Me To Digger A Little Deeper Into Our Pockets.

Mesa Public Schools is ready to ask the already struggling residents of Mesa to dig a little deeper into their pockets to the tune of $250 million dollars. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't have much more room to dig. I'm afraid the next swing of the pick and I will go right through my pockets.

Of the last bond package which the school did in 2005 which was 212 million dollars, they are going to use the last remaining 1.9 million dollars to demolish the old Mesa Junior High. Something about using bond money for demolition of a school strikes me as kind of funny, it just doesn't feel right to use tax payer money to destroy rather than to build.

MPS says they need the money to make repairs to buildings and to upgrade the technology at the schools. I have a problem with that on a couple of fronts. First the bond repayment period will extend beyond the useful life of the technology and upgrades they will be buying. That is just bad money management, rule #1 of good money management is that the item you finance should give a return beyond the finance period and not by just one year. Technology is basically technology is obsolete after a couple of years not 20 or 30 years.

Next why is Mesa Schools using bond money for maintenance? I would think that a well planned out budget for Mesa Public Schools would included a line item for long term maintenance. Did someone forget to add a line item for that? If they did the budget director should be fired.

For years Mesa Public Schools has played loose with tax payer money and now it is time to Mesa residents to say NO to this next round of bonds. Let the economy recover and let me and you find a job before you stick it to us again.