The New Paltz School District in New York is trying again to get voters to pass a $52.9 million capital improvement bond proposal. Voters rejected an identical proposal last October, but the board of education is posting the bond on the ballot again without a single revision, the New Paltz Times reported.
The board has been insistent that the improvements outlined in the bond are essential and has said that it’s an issue of “pay now or pay later.”
50 percent of the project will be paid for by state aid. The taxpayer impact is estimated to be an additional $20 each year per $100,000 of assessed home value, according to the Times. Under the arrangement, a homeowner with property assessed at $250,000 will pay an estimated additional $50 in taxes every year over the bond’s 20-year life. The project is being timed to coincide with the retirement of old debt to offset costs.
In explaining the decision to post the exact same bond, boardmembers cited their belief that a lack of community understanding about the bond proposal doomed it the first go round. They hope that after conveying critical information about the bond, including more details about the dire need for the project and the deterioration of school structures that it will pass this time around.
