While there is a good argument that a new school building will be nice for the Elida community, I have some issues with the overall project and the method in which the funds are being asked of us.
On the Elida Schools website, please take note of the question surrounding “Why does the tax have to be on our property? Why not use an income tax?” The answer, according to the survey, is “Our community has overwhelmingly said ‘no’ to income taxes twice before, November 2003, 63 percent said NO and November 2012, 60 percent said ‘no.’”
So are we as property owners are supposed to assume the burden of paying for the school because the rest of the Elida residents that do not own property have said they do not want to? So every person that does not pay property tax and yet still has kids in school or has had kids in school, gets a tax free card while the rest of the Elida population that already pays property taxes will get the burden of paying everyone’s share of the tax.
Shame on the school for asking the property owners to do this without the help of all tax payers in Elida. Shame on the school for trying to guilt us into doing this. If the community has overwhelmingly said “no” in the past, then the answer is “no”. This is like a child getting “no” from one parent and then run to the other parent to hopefully get a “yes” from that parent. Shame on you.
Eric Jennings, Elida
