There are less than 5,000 residents in Manitou Springs. That includes adults and children. A certain percentage of those residents own homes there. They are being asked to allow the school district to take on $37.6 million dollars of debt for school improvements. District property taxes, by means of the mill levy, would be increased by $2.95 million dollars annually to pay this debt.
This means that those of us who own properties will face a substantially higher property tax bill every year, and bear all of the burden of this new tax. Of the approximately 1,450 students who attend Manitou Schools, around 30%, or about 400 students are “choice” students, meaning they do not live in the Manitou School District. Their parents, however, are not being asked to participate in this new tax. The burden falls entirely on residents of Manitou district.
Why are these students being encouraged to attend our schools? If we just supported the children who live in our district, we would not constantly need bigger, better, newer features in our schools. We are a small town, with no large, anticipated growth. Yet we already have a high mill levy, soon to be higher. I saw an estimate that this new debt will result in more than $400 additional annual tax on a home worth $500,000. For a home worth $1 million, that is over $800 per year.
As for the plan for air conditioning in the schools, did you notice the Gazette article stating that Palmer High School is receiving a state tax credit of $5 million dollars to install a thermal energy network to provide air conditioning for its new building? Rather than asking us to carry all costs of improvements, needed or not, how about checking on what state tax credits might be available?
When will we again be asked to pay more property tax to fund more future improvements?
Please vote NO on Manitou Springs school district 14 Ballot Issue 4C.
