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This letter by Bill Bodden was publish in The Redmond Spokesman in October 2002 The article on promoting Redmond’s school bond (Bond backers study other districts for lessons - Sept 18) was very interesting, and I would like to help the promoters with a suggestion. Don’t interview people in difficult financial circumstances like the single mother I met at a community action team meeting. She got the house she lives in as part of a divorce settlement and was struggling to make it on part-time jobs. In case you are not in complete touch with reality, most part-time jobs pay little more than minimum wage. Her home is probably valued at around $125,000 which means she might have to pay another $168.75 a year (or $14 a month) in taxes. Some school bond promoters probably pay more than $14 for a bottle of wine, but for people working for $7 an hour (before taxes) $14 equates to two hours of work. Instead of having to decide which wine to have with their meals, they have the problem of deciding what they can eat on their limited income. One of the reasons we are in this mess is that a majority of our legislators go to Salem to take care of their campaign contributors, which explains, as I presume, why Ben Westlund opposes changing the laws on system development charges (SDCs) to a more fair arrangement. This would require people responsible for system development costs to pay more in SDCs instead of being subsidized by homeowners that can’t afford increases in taxes. (I say "I presume" because Westlund dodged this issue at a town hall meeting and refused to respond to questions in my letter earlier this year.) I find Cylvia Hayes’ position on the issue of school funding at www.cylviahayes.com eminently more responsible and fair and would encourage readers to check it out. (Note: Ben Westlund was reelected) Back to Education Home Page Back to Schools Home Page |
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