Vigo Schools Tax Referendum

[4Q_iu]

Renters definitely can not be excluded from voting on the referendum. I figured they couldn't but didn't know the history behind it until i talked to the friend I mentioned. He's taught history in VCSC for a bit over 15 years, mostly at the high school level. He walked me thru the issue on a video message. My thought was, and is, that the majority of renters who do vote in the primary next month may be more apt to vote yes on the ref as they don't have skin in the game, yet would get the benefits of it passing. I have a freshman at south and a 4th grader. I plan to vote yes. At this point it wouldn't impact my pockets but my 4th grader (and maybe my freshman but probably not) will reap whatever benefits there may be.

FWIW... if your landlord is legit, whatever tax increase they receive will be passed to you and the rest of the landlord's tenants via higher rent payments

And the days of only allowing "property owners" the right to vote went out "centuries ago"

 

[niklz62]

I think the central high school would have been the best bet by consolidating some overlap in jobs. I live in Charleston and there is no reason there are 3 schools in this county. there should be one between Mattoon and Charleston which are 6 miles from edge of town to edge of town, but my kids go to the school where my wife teaches anyway.

I dont know how our property taxes compare exactaly but I could probably sell my house for say..$185k pretty quick and I pay around $4600/yr in taxes.

Im not sure on construction and stuff but the school district may be on the wrong side of inflation too. Im not sure if they act quick they will be able to lock in a reasonable price for what they are wanting. For example a friend is having some work done to his house and the company (a reasonable size reputable construction company) actually told him that they considered defaulting on their contracted price and the new price would have been 2-3 times more. I dont know how that will come into play for large commercial stuff. It does make me think we will never have a different football stadium.

 

[meistro]

Some of that is probably just a product of this being a message board and sometimes the path less traveled makes for a better conversation... If everyone agreed or just took the sensible route approach then wouldn't be much to discuss. On the other hand - we probably just see basketball (since that is mainly what is discussed on here) through a different lens and that's okay.

As for "renters" voting... Many of those renters may eventually be home owners and even if not many of those renters have students that are going to be impacted by improved facilities. So while - yes they add an interesting dynamic in trying to predict the outcome of this referendum (admittedly I think it will be really close) I'm perfectly okay with it for the reasons I stated. Beyond that, I am not very well versed on election laws but I doubt that renters could be excluded from such a vote even if the VCSC preferred that they be?!

I would say most people have not done the research on property taxes and what they intend to do with the funding... I am in the process of moving but I think on my current property I was looking at around $240 annually - so not insignificant but a small price to pay for my kids, my nieces and nephews and my friends kids. Just read this thread alone and you can see that SOME of those objecting immediately arrived at that conclusion without even giving it much consideration. 1. Our taxes are already to high figure out another way. 2. The school corporation is corrupt and I don't trust them. 3. I wanted one mega high school and not the renovation of the three existing facilities. 4. Inflation, Gas Prices, War, Building Material Costs. And countless other reasons that people will come up with not to vote for this thing without ever taking a step back and taking in the bigger picture!

Because I actually was in favor of combining North and South - putting it on the east side of town (probably the most central location possible) and leaving West alone. They went a different direction - I just have to get over the fact that it wasn't what I had hoped they would do... Again... Tough!

I would definitely went the two new east and west schools.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

Four schools is the way to go. Smaller schools, less chance of students getting "lost in the shuffle." But I don't live there, so I don't have a dog in this hunt...

 

[meistro]

Four schools is the way to go. Smaller schools, less chance of students getting "lost in the shuffle." But I don't live there, so I don't have a dog in this hunt...

Unfortunately, smaller schools are going away because of the cost.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

Unfortunately, smaller schools are going away because of the cost.

True, as we can see in this thread, no one actually wants to pay for anything. However, as Bill Hudnut once said, there is, many times, a difference between being efficient and being effective.

 

[Sycamorefan96]

How much more money do they really need? There's 244 million right there within the past year from local taxpayers and federal giveaways.

Vigo County School Corporation approves $167 million dollar budget for 2022

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The Vigo County School board met Monday evening to approve the 2022 budget for the corporation.

www.wthitv.com

Spending $47 million: VCSC tries to be responsible & meet federal regs

The Vigo County School Corp. has been awarded $47 million in federal COVID relief funds, and as of Oct. 6, it had spent $12.3 million for such items as Chromebooks,

www.tribstar.com

Vigo Schools will get another $30.5 million in stimulus money

The Vigo County School Corp. will receive an estimated $30.5 million as part of the third round of federal stimulus dollars [American Rescue Plan], according to the Indiana Department of

www.tribstar.com

 

[niklz62]

How much more money do they really need? There's 244 million right there within the past year from local taxpayers and federal giveaways.

Vigo County School Corporation approves $167 million dollar budget for 2022

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The Vigo County School board met Monday evening to approve the 2022 budget for the corporation.

www.wthitv.com

Spending $47 million: VCSC tries to be responsible & meet federal regs

The Vigo County School Corp. has been awarded $47 million in federal COVID relief funds, and as of Oct. 6, it had spent $12.3 million for such items as Chromebooks,

www.tribstar.com

Vigo Schools will get another $30.5 million in stimulus money

The Vigo County School Corp. will receive an estimated $30.5 million as part of the third round of federal stimulus dollars [American Rescue Plan], according to the Indiana Department of

www.tribstar.com

So your contention is that instead of paying all the bills one year they should just skip them and save the $167M for building?

 

[4Q_iu]

How much more money do they really need? There's 244 million right there within the past year from local taxpayers and federal giveaways.

Vigo County School Corporation approves $167 million dollar budget for 2022

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The Vigo County School board met Monday evening to approve the 2022 budget for the corporation.

www.wthitv.com

Spending $47 million: VCSC tries to be responsible & meet federal regs

The Vigo County School Corp. has been awarded $47 million in federal COVID relief funds, and as of Oct. 6, it had spent $12.3 million for such items as Chromebooks,

www.tribstar.com

Vigo Schools will get another $30.5 million in stimulus money

The Vigo County School Corp. will receive an estimated $30.5 million as part of the third round of federal stimulus dollars [American Rescue Plan], according to the Indiana Department of

www.tribstar.com

You're conveniently mixing apples and oranges -- the Federal $$ are not for, will not be spent on building construction

Federal education dollars fund some school lunch programs, grants/aid for faculty, staff to address special education needs

but yes, SOME of the $77.5M from the feds is for HVAC renovation, upgrades within the existing schools but the rest... it's spelled out in the article. None of it is for school CONSTRUCTION

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

You're conveniently mixing apples and oranges -- the Federal $$ are not for, will not be spent on building construction

Federal education dollars fund some school lunch programs, grants/aid for faculty, staff to address special education needs

but yes, SOME of the $77.5M from the feds is for HVAC renovation, upgrades within the existing schools but the rest... it's spelled out in the article. None of it is for school CONSTRUCTION

He also conveniently suggested that they decided to bring this referendum to the voters during record high inflation, construction costs, gas prices and war... None of which was even predictable when they started this process and none of which was going on (albeit plausible) when they had to have the ballot language approved.

 

[Sycamorefan96]

So your contention is that instead of paying all the bills one year they should just skip them and save the $167M for building?

Not at all. My contention is that they should make the repairs that are actually necessary, not all of the extra stuff none of us know about. A quarter of a billion dollars is a crazy amount of money and I would bet there aren't $250M worth of repairs that actually need made at North and South. Make some cuts and spend the money you do get on fixing what is actually necessary. I've already made the point that they found the money to build a second gym at Otter Creek. They're pretty good at blowing money on unnecessary stuff when these buildings are supposedly on the condemnation watchlist.

I would bet that 90% of whatever in they're wanting do (because who the hell actually knows) is on stuff that isn't even necessary and just stuff that's on a long wishlist. And what's wrong with West Vigo exactly? Are they just included so that the people west of the river might actually support the referendum?

 

[4Q_iu]

Not at all. My contention is that they should make the repairs that are actually necessary, not all of the extra stuff none of us know about. A quarter of a billion dollars is a crazy amount of money and I would bet there aren't $250M worth of repairs that actually need made at North and South. Make some cuts and spend the money you do get on fixing what is actually necessary. I've already made the point that they found the money to build a second gym at Otter Creek. They're pretty good at blowing money on unnecessary stuff when these buildings are supposedly on the condemnation watchlist.

I would bet that 90% of whatever in they're wanting do (because who the hell actually knows) is on stuff that isn't even necessary and just stuff that's on a long wishlist. And what's wrong with West Vigo exactly? Are they just included so that the people west of the river might actually support the referendum?

West Vigo is included because Vigo County has ONE school corporation that contains MULTIPLE school

It's like Oprah's show... everyone gets to vote

Did you enjoy your state-mandated civics/government class in HS?

 

[Sycamorefan96]

West Vigo is included because Vigo County has ONE school corporation that contains MULTIPLE school

It's like Oprah's show... everyone gets to vote

Did you enjoy your state-mandated civics/government class in HS?

I think you misunderstood my post. I'm asking if anything is actually wrong with the West Vigo HS building, or if they are just including it in the renovation plans to try to get "west of the river" votes. In other words I doubt very many people west of the Wabash would vote in favor of the referendum if the money was only being used for North and South, schools that their kids would never attend.

 

[4Q_iu]

I think you misunderstood my post. I'm asking if anything is actually wrong with the West Vigo HS building, or if they are just including it in the renovation plans to try to get "west of the river" votes. In other words I doubt very many people west of the Wabash would vote in favor of the referendum if the money was only being used for North and South, schools that their kids would never attend.

I think you're missing the point of the tax referendum... They likely included W. Vigo in the plan overview because the referendum language will be... "shall the vigo county school corporation be authorized a tax rate of X% to fund new schools in the corporation as necessary."

If the referendum passed, the school (tax) district will collect X amount of tax dollars. The school corporation will then decide how to spend, where to spend... the $$. I've not read, viewed a school tax referendum that IDs the specific school to be constructed

 

[sycamore tuff]

Unfortunately, smaller schools are going away because of the cost.

I think you're missing the point of the tax referendum... They likely included W. Vigo in the plan overview because the referendum language will be... "shall the vigo county school corporation be authorized a tax rate of X% to fund new schools in the corporation as necessary."

If the referendum passed, the school (tax) district will collect X amount of tax dollars. The school corporation will then decide how to spend, where to spend... the $$. I've not read, viewed a school tax referendum that IDs the specific school to be constructed

It's kind of like hulman center. Give us the money and we'll figure out how to spend it. BTW, I did the calculations on the tax increase. Mine will go up $298.00/year. Very little of the increase was on the farmland. SSOM stated that the farmers will get hit the hardest. Probably not. Their acreage is mostly unimproved land which is taxed very low. Their taxes are also deductable business expenses.

 

[CardLake49]

I think you misunderstood my post. I'm asking if anything is actually wrong with the West Vigo HS building, or if they are just including it in the renovation plans to try to get "west of the river" votes. In other words I doubt very many people west of the Wabash would vote in favor of the referendum if the money was only being used for North and South, schools that their kids would never attend.

Oh nothing is wrong at West Vigo. That 61 year old building in a neglected part of Vigo County is in perfect condition.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

I think you misunderstood my post. I'm asking if anything is actually wrong with the West Vigo HS building, or if they are just including it in the renovation plans to try to get "west of the river" votes. In other words I doubt very many people west of the Wabash would vote in favor of the referendum if the money was only being used for North and South, schools that their kids would never attend.

My cousins went to West Vigo. I last stepped in that building probably in 2004 or so and it was a heap of shit then. I can only imagine what 18 more years has done.

 

[CardLake49]

It's kind of like hulman center. Give us the money and we'll figure out how to spend it. BTW, I did the calculations on the tax increase. Mine will go up $298.00/year. Very little of the increase was on the farmland. SSOM stated that the farmers will get hit the hardest. Probably not. Their acreage is mostly unimproved land which is taxed very low. Their taxes are also deductable business expenses.

Not trying to poo poo $300 but that's like a few less coffee's at Starbucks or a couple less cases of Busch Light a month. I hope more people know about, and take the time to use, the tax calculator.

 

[CardLake49]

My cousins went to West Vigo. I last stepped in that building probably in 2004 or so and it was a heap of shit then. I can only imagine what 18 more years has done.

Its dog shit now.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

Its dog shit now.

Progress. Not the right way, but still progress. LOL