The rest of the bond story By Lloyd Eaton and Concerned Citizens for Responsible Government The following questions are being submitted sub-mitted to all of the local media by a Uintah Uin-tah County Organization, Citizens for Responsible Government in an effort to resolve some of the problems facing all of us with regard to the coming school bond. We all agree that educating our children is important and we as a committee com-mittee are not against properly educating them. The question is, "Can the people who own property afford a raise in taxes to pay off a 40 million dollar debt" This total debt depending on the interest and the range of time of the bond. The articles in the paper say that the range of time of the bond is 15 years. The.i ballot says 20 years. Which is it? This will ? make a difference in the interest. Private property for taxing basis is a ' very narrow base in Utah. This small base cannot continue to support all of the problems needing money. We are going to be taxed for a new sewer disposal plant, new sewer lines, new water lines, new water treatment plant, plus additional addi-tional water costs from Red Fleet Dam. Governor Matheson declared that he is going to raise the present property values to collect an additional $150 million in taxes in 1983. After an increase the Uintah County taxpayers received in 1982, will we even be able to pay our taxes this year. Can we really afford an increse in property taxes from $15.95 to as high as $150.00 to support a school bond? Besides, instead of paying the $17 miUion for the school bond, the taxpayers will end up paying $40 million in principle princi-ple and interest over a 20 year period. Senior citizens on social security or other fixed incomes have no way to increase in-crease their capacity to pay for more taxes added onto their property. In the private sector we all have a challenge to balance what we need, what we want, and what we can afford. We have no quarrel with needing more classrooms with lockers and wide hallways. If the present bond should fail, we would support a. smaller bond to qualify us for the $4.3 million loan at 5 percent interest from the Community Impact Board. Why can't we build at the present high school locations? The so called Vernal boom seems to have busted as we have people and companies leaving Vernal every day. The Uintah School Board of Education Educa-tion has stated that 53 percent of the proposed pro-posed 17 million dollar bond will be paid for by oil and gas taxes. Our question is, do we know for sure that tax money will be available to pay 53 percent of the bill? Utah oil production is in steady decline. From 40 million barrels just six short years ago to 25 million barrels' last year? Along with the decline of oil production also comes a decline in taxes. If this alarming alar-ming trend continues, there will be a smaller and smaller piece of pie that the Board of Education will have to work with. So, in summary, there is an excellent chance that down the road the money' from oil and gas tax simply won't be there to help us pay for the bond and who is to say with the present problems of today's to-day's economy that we will ever be able , to pay the bill? What is the expected maintenance and operations costs on the new high school? The bond, to our knowledge, does not cover the cost of roads to the new high school, sidewalks, curb and gutter, parking park-ing lots, etc. What is the expected cost of these improvements? Neither the present junior or senior : high school would be suited to a middle school. The junior high has an Olympic size gym, special shop building, home ec equipment and a large auditorium. Middle Mid-dle school would not be able to use these to advantage. The senior high has 2 gyms, racketball courts, well established establish-ed baseball diamonds, tennis courts, football field & track. Why walk off and leave these and pay to build duplicate 'facilities elsewhere? Here again the middle mid-dle school could not use these facilities. The talk about not havinp ennncrh rnnm at the high school is a fallacy. There is a large field to the south of the present building that could be utilized and we already have it. Why not build to the. south and still utilize the above mentioned mention-ed athletic facilities? There are also several special buildings to the west of the main building such as the business education building, the green houses, shop building and a radio station building. When your children go to college they will probably notice that there are several "old"buildings in constant use and are usually the core of the college. It is not good economics or sensible to abandon a building that is sound. You add on as needed and not spend more money to build the same thing over in a different location. The district is already committed to opening two new elementary schools this fall and that means more teachers, aides, janitors, cooks and principals must be hired. Buses will be running to those schools also which will be more expense. ex-pense. It is time that economics come into in-to play and the board and superintendent are held accountable. Quality education does not mean new buildings buildings do not do the teaching teachers do. We would like to know the amount of space, therefore probable cost of facilities to be provided for athletic activities, ac-tivities, scholastic pursuits, classrooms, office and other requirements. We would also like to know how much of the present pre-sent school budget is being spent for the total athletic program and for all other activities of the school. We understand that at the present time, about 100 of 180 days of school is spent in extra cur- ricurlar activities and about 80 days for scholastic studies, quite an uneven balance. We would be interested to know where the school board got its figures and projections pro-jections regarding the number of students and their needs for the future. With the sudden drop in industrial activities ac-tivities and the increase of unemployment unemploy-ment in the county, how does anyone know we will have even as many students in the future as we do now? We believe that their projections are nothing but a wild guess. The tentative high school site on North Vernal Avenue needs soil testing and engineering reports estimating extra ' cost in a known wet area and other on site and off site cost. Another concern of many people about this site is coming out of or going into the school entrances off a two lane highway with no left turn lane. Does the bond include money for the safety of our students to widen the highway and install traffic signals for all of the people coming and going to school functions? Why is the school board trying to secure property for a new high school before it is even determined that it will ever be needed? We are of the opinion that this should wait until the bond is passed. We are also interested in knowing know-ing how much the district is paying for the various feasibility studies, plans furnished fur-nished by the architects and all of the preliminary work being done before it is even determined that it will ever be needed? Are there any school funds being be-ing used by those people who have been selected to promote the passage of the bond issue among the residents of the county? All of these questions and many other need answered before we vote on this issue. ?