Nebo District looks to bond vote Tuesday

Nebo School District officials say they think Tuesday will be the best time to hold a special election for $160 million in bonds to pay for needed new schools. But the election is getting heat from the Utah Taxpayers Association, which says the bond proposal would put strain on taxpayers in bad economic times.

School leaders argue that despite the economic downturn, the June election date will allow the district to take advantage of cheaper winter construction costs and will address the needs of the students earlier than waiting for municipal elections in November.

"We're growing 700 students a year with no one moving in, and about 1,000 a year for the past number of years," said Rick Nielsen, the district's assistant superintendent. "We have to have mechanisms in place to reasonably accommodate growth."

But after a relatively quiet campaign, the Utah Taxpayers Association Friday attacked Nebo's proposed bond as "extravagant."

"The Nebo School District's extravagant $160 million bond ignores the financial pain Utah taxpayers are already facing. Raising taxes is the absolute worst policy Nebo School District can pursue during a recession of these historic proportions," said M. Royce Van Tassell in a press release issued Friday. "Nebo taxpayers simply can't afford to pay another $302 per year in taxes."

However, school officials say the district won't be raising taxes next year to pay for the bond if the election is favorable, but will extend existing debt payments for another four or five years.

"We recognized going into this bond election that the economic downturn was one of the problems we were going to face. That's one of our objectives in proposing the bond — no tax increase," Nielsen said.

Still, Utah's truth in bonding law has required that the ballot for the bond state that "the tax on a $240,000 residence in the school district would increase $302 per year."

Van Tassell said that's an accurate representation of the actual cost of the bond, whether it is paid by taxpayers next year or by increasing the time taxpayers will pay back the existing bond debt.

"State law is pretty clear about what constitutes a tax increase. That $160 million is going to come from taxpayers," he said.

Van Tassell also said that by holding the election in June during an off-year and by consolidating the school district's 30 voting districts into seven, school officials are apparently attempting to limit voter participation to get the bond approved.