2nd Take At A Referendum

My column for the West Bend Daily News is online.  It’s called “2nd Take At A Referendum.”  It’s about West Bend’s school referenda for this year. 

Unfortunately for me, it is instantly inaccurate because I said that the board will vote to put the referenda on the ballot in September, when in fact, they did it last night.  On the bright side, I was accurate with what the two questions would be:

Question 1 of the proposed referendum builds a new 650-student Jackson Elementary School on a new site, remodels Silverbrook Middle School to hold 900 students and addresses energy inefficiencies, remodels Decorah Elementary to hold 650 students and fixes its cracked wing, and creates secure entrances at the high schools, McLane, Green Tree and Fair Park. It costs $41.5 million.

   Question 2 remodels Badger Middle School to hold 900 students and makes it disabled accessible. It costs $27.4 million.

   Brian Brewer of Robert W. Baird provided interest rate projections of 5 percent he called “conservative.”

   Passing Question 1’s $41.45 million carries interest of more than $24 million over 20 years. Question 2’s $27.4 million carries interest of nearly $16 million for the same period. If both questions pass, the projected total cost of the projects would be nearly $108 million.

I’m opposed to the first referendum for the reasons stated in my column.  I’m still thinking about the second referendum.