GUEST COMMENTARY
AGAINST both propositions. These propositions call for both an $18.5 million bond (projected to cost district taxpayers $36 million over 30 years), as well as giving the board UNLIMITED taxation authority to service the bond. The board’s decision to call for a bond election of this massive scale came as a surprise to most of the citizens of the area when it was voted on and passed by a 5-2 vote on January 13th of this year.
A review of the board minutes and the publicly posted agendas reveal NO public board discussions or workshops were conducted in the months immediately prior to this vote. Furthermore, the public heard no public discussion of the various options by the board members after coming out of an executive session and voting on the bond.
When asked by a board member during a later February 10th meeting if the bond election could be called off or postponed prior to the election date, the securities advisor who was present answered “yes.” At a later meeting on February 17th, a different advisor from the same firm told the board that the election could not legally be called off, an opinion later repeated by the securities firm’s attorney despite an opinion to the contrary presented by a preeminent Texas school attorney.
Also to the surprise of the public, at the February 17th, meeting board members were told by the securities advisor that they needed to amend the original election resolution to include a second proposition granting the board unlimited authority to raise tax rates to whatever level is necessary to make the bond payments for the next 30 years.
Again, the board went into closed session for a lengthy period before voting by a 4-3 vote to amend the original resolution to include this second proposition. It is very rare for a school district to move forward with a proposal for a bond issue with less than a near unanimous vote of the board.
Despite workshops where tax and property appraisers gave opinions as to future valuations, they admitted that no one knows for sure what these tax rates might need to be. It is quite obvious that neither the board nor the public completely understand all the ramifications of these actions.
The public has also been told that an in-depth facilities needs assessments has been conducted. However, an assessment by the Texas Association of School Boards was conducted a month
AFTER the bond election was called, and received by the district
TWO MONTHS after the board voted to call the election.
This assessment, now posted on the district’s website, shows the problems are mostly due to neglected maintenance. If we can’t budget to maintain our current facilities, then how will we be able to maintain larger and more expensive facilities?
The school’s administration has also stated that a new school would help Riviera ISD draw students from other districts. Is imposing such a debt burden on
local taxpayers in order to attract students from other districts the right thing to do? The money raised by the bond will do NOTHING to fund increases in teachers’ salaries or academic programs.
Riviera is a close-knit community and both the public and the board want to do the best for its children. In order to preserve our sense of community and our quality of life, the district needs to provide complete fiscal accountability to our taxpayers and citizens, ample opportunity for community involvement, and complete transparency in all our public actions.
As citizens, we simply ask that everyone step back and DO THIS RIGHT. Vote responsibly. VOTE AGAINST both Propositions 1 and 2.
