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Dear Editor:
Carmel voters got a wake-up call this week when backers of the school bond issue on the November ballot blamed the State of Indiana for the lack of support.
The school bureaucracy wants $39 million more added to its existing $293 million total outstanding debt (according to data the school district provided the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance or IDLGF).
Carmel governments – city, schools, library, and township – have a combined total debt of $1,973,104,415 as reported to the IDLGF.
Quibbling over state-required wording on the ballot, school administrators should be selling the bond idea.
Turns out the “product” is too unattractive to sell.
They ask voters to vote blindly for a boost in the school’s property tax rate that “will increase the average property tax paid to the school corporation per year on a residence within the school corporation by 28.3 percent.”
It does so by replacing an old bond issue with a new one.
Published reports indicate the Carmel school district is the only one statewide to complain about the new state wording requirement.
Is it possible the new wording, far from confusing voters, actually informs us too well?
This is the same school district which disclosed in January a $9.5 million high school activities center would cost 60 percent more than estimated.
The same district which in June then reported a high school stadium upgrade estimated to cost $5.8 million would cost 24 percent more ($7.2 million).
It could be we need a school board that lives within its means, manages its P’s and Q’s, and tells the candid truth.
Meanwhile, Carmel taxpayers should vote “NO” on this bond con.
Bill Shaffer
Carmel
I am voting no
It is disingenuous for CCS to say that extending the referendum will not increase taxes. As assessed valuations increase, taxes will increase. With the recent real estate boom, CCS has received a windfall well beyond inflation, yet struggling families are asked to continue to bloat the CCS coffers.
It is also puzzling for CCS to say that referendum funds are used to “recruit and retain teachers and staff.” If teachers and staff are the heart of the school, why make their income dependent on a referendum? Why is their pay not the first line item in the regularly funded budget? And if the income of these hard-working heroes is in jeopardy, why is Carmel High improving its sports and activities facilities to the tune of $22 million? We’ve all had to tighten our belts in this economy; it’s time for CCS to do so as well.
To be perfectly clear for Carmel voters, there is no “school bond issue” on the ballot. An operating referendum has nothing to do with a bond issuance. Rather, it is one of three types of referendum that the State of Indiana has created for communities to fund various aspects of their local school systems. (The other two types of referendum are safety and construction.)
Additionally, the current referendum is not “a boost in the school’s property tax rate.” It maintains the same tax rate that has been in place since 2017.
Regarding the incorrect claim that CCS is the only district to draw awareness to the confusing wording the state requires for a referendum, a quick Google of “Indiana School Referendum Confusing Wording” immediately returns news stories of other school districts, universities and media pointing out the problematic wording. On just the first page of results, there are articles where Noblesville, Sheridan, Monroe County, Valparaiso, Mt. Vernon and Purdue all raise the same issue, along with reporting explaining why so many find it confusing.
Mr. Shaffer is almost correct about the 24% difference between the estimate and bids for the CCS construction project, though it’s actually 22.7% if going off the numbers provided by the district instead of rounding. I would guess that most homeowners who have attempted to have contracted work done during the past couple years would not be surprised by such a significant swing. Unfortunately, construction pricing has been volatile due to issues with materials costs, labor shortages, supply chains and a period of high inflation. Note, though, that CCS construction projects and their associated costs are also unrelated to the operating referendum.
School funding is extremely confusing in Indiana and it is not surprising that someone could misunderstand it as thoroughly as Mr. Shaffer has. If Carmel voters would like to know more about the referendum before voting on it, I would advise starting with reading the information CCS has made available online and then contacting the district directly with any follow-up questions. They seem very glad to have that conversation, based both on my personal experience and from watching them field and respond to questions from other residents.