EDITOR:
Now that some of the fuss has died down from the November election, I wanted to remind everyone that there was a tax on the ballot that we voted down and it will probably be back.
The Metropolitan Community College (MCC) tax was narrowly defeated, but it was much closer than the last time it was on the ballot in 2021. In the multiple flyers we all received in the mail it said the tax was to reduce the tuition cost to the students in the county, never telling us how many students from the area actually attend their colleges. If 1,000 homes pay the additional tax and only one student from those homes gets the 50% reduction in tuition it probably is not that good of a deal.
I did not see anything in the flyers about new buildings being proposed on the MCC campuses with the additional tax dollars. Odd because a check of the donations made to “MCC Works for Platte County,” the PAC that mailed most of the flyers, showed 95% of their donations or $28,000 was donated by people associated with the building trade.
Donations included from the Heavy Constructors Assoc. for $10,000, JE Dunn $5,000, McCown Gordon Const. $5,000 and there are many more.
Virtually no money from anyone but businesses associated with the construction industry for a proposed tax that was to help pay 50% of tuition? Congratulations, Platte County R-3 voters, I think you saw this tax for what it really was and I feel bad for the other school districts that have voted it in, as I think they are now stuck with it forever.
Platte County R-3 School District will be asking for $65 million in April, so while looking at MCC I saw that “Quality Platte County R-III Schools,” the PAC that supports the school’s tax efforts, already has $9,000 donated with all of that coming from…you guessed it, people associated with building and vendors of the district.
This PAC has already paid “AX Advocacy,” a national research company to get started. They are off and running to once again make us the highest debt per student suburban district in the state of Missouri, while using the dollars from district vendors to send out flyers and questionable information to get taxes passed. Then those donating vendors get money back from district projects funded by those same taxes. It is quite the racket.
If this R-3 ballot question passes in April, we will have around $40,000 dollars of debt per student. Compare that to Wentzville, the fastest growing district in Missouri at $15,000 or Grain Valley, who has grown more and faster than R-3, at $17,000 of debt per student.
DESE now shows Platte County R-3 enrollment growth of just 17 students over five years from 2019 to 2024 but expenditures for the district grew $44 million dollars over the same time period.
A “No Tax Bond Increase,” which you are going to hear a lot about, means the district wants to continue to max out their bonding ability. It is much like paying a monthly maximum on your credit card and you just keep buying stuff to keep it that way.
Bonds work much like credit cards. Don’t max them out, pay your debt down and your payment–or in the case of the bonds–your property TAXES WILL GO DOWN.
Keep voting for “No Tax Increase Bond Issues” and the R-3 debt portion of your property taxes will never drop.
You won’t hear this from the district, because much like the last Prop C tax question, administrators won’t tell you your taxes could drop if you VOTE NO.
On Prop C, district staff first said that your taxes would not increase, then it was pointed out we would be paying millions more in interest debt. They then quietly changed their statements to your “Levy amount would not change.”
When the Prop C waiver passed, school administrators received the largest pay raises in the district. The teachers did get raises as we were told but when it comes to dollars the administrators, already making an average of $113,000 per year, raked in more.
The current salary maximum for an administrator (and we have many) in the R-3 school district is $189,000 per year while the majority of state test scores have dropped the past three years. Test scores have dropped but we have increased spending per student in the district, according to DESE, by 25% over the past five years.
Spending more tax dollars is obviously not working.
I will put the supporting documents for this information on Facebook at PlattecountyR3facts.com.
–Kirby Holden
Rural Platte County
