Special Board of Aldermen Public Hearing — 12/16/2019 Page 24
This is not ready to be bonded. In past year, maybe 20 years ago we didn’t bond anything until the final figures
were known. Then you receive a bond authorization. This is all turned topsy down. People now come in with
these bond authorization and have very little insight to what they are doing. This is a great example.
Now we are not talking about the Performing Arts Center of $15 million or $20 million or $22 million, not even $6
million dollars, we are talking about a lot of money here, we are talking about $118 million dollar principal that
grows by 45% to become $172 million. That is a lot of money. The answers that | asked, that weren’t answered,
the answers other people asked that weren’t answered about finances, that’s is not acceptable. It is not
acceptable to say well we don’t know what the bonding is going to be like. That Mr. Treasurer is not acceptable, in
fact, that has never been done before. That people come in with bonding amounts, they had detailed analysis, and
detailed estimates. We certainly did that with Fairgrounds, | was an Alderman.
Now a final point, if you take R-191 and R-187 and R-186, these 3 bond issues before you tonight, in total has
$182 million dollar debt. $182 million. The total adds $9.5 million dollar annual payments. I’m not making it up, I'll
send you all a copy. All you do is take a look at the bond analysis, as anybody can do and has a spread sheet and
knows how to use a spread sheet, | presume you all do. You add the figures up and the figures don’t lie. $9.5
million dollars is what you are talking about the first year, that is almost 5% of the tax rate. This is certainly highly
premature. The Public Works has been pretty well thought through | thought; the other one | don’t even think you
should do. That shouldn’t be bonded. But this is real money. Before you build four story structures, final point,
somebody brought up a Charter School. North High School and South High School are consistently in the lower
30% of the State. Consistently, look up school.com look up any of these analysis, North High and South School
are below 30%. The Charter School that we have, Academy of Science & Design is the top 100 of the entire
United States.
Chairman Dowd
| think we are getting off topic.
Mr. Teeboom So buildings don’t make students. Buildings don’t create scholastic standards. You've got to start
thinking more about how to spend money to raise the education of our children instead of putting them into fancy
buildings and have the score down to 30%. That millions of dollars of charter money, | think it was criminal for the
Teacher's Union to affect a vote and turn down the money. Criminal.
Doris Hohensee 15 Swart Terrace. As to enrollment, you have to keep in mind that the District just incorporated
full day Kindergarten. So you have a pair of double working parents that needed a full day program that are
switching over to our school and in the past 2 years even with practically, you know, several hundred new
students, we have still declined year over year. So it may have flattened temporarily, but this doesn’t increase
enrollment in 2™, 3 and 4"" grade. They would eventually come here anyway but they came for Kindergarten
because it was now a full day whereas they could only get that in the private sector previously. So that has sort of
made a bubble in the numbers, but the numbers are still going down. And if we are wrong, do the study, it is part of
the State law. You want to get the building aid, you have to do the study. Statistically reliable study; we have no
study, we are just building. Thank you.
Stephen Scaer 111 East Hobart Street. When | pick a college for my daughter, | buy a car, | buy a house, | look at
how much it is going to cost me and | don’t live in nearly as nice of a house or drive as nice of a car as I'd like to.
Here you are asking me buy a school and it could be a great school but you can’t give me a rough idea of how
much it is going to cost me? | think that you are bright enough and you’ve got people that can figure that out and |
urge you to step back from this and figure out how much it is going to add to the average home price, I’m sorry
average tax bill. Thank you.
Prasad Tiruveedi 6 Medallion Court. | agree with others who spoke against this. Thank you.
Howard Coffman current member of the Board of Education. | want to thank Mr. Teeboom for his reality check. |
can tell you in my four years on the Board of Ed and we started talking about a middle school replacement 4 years
ago we brought in the same folks. The estimate then was between $40 and $50 million and didn’t involve other
schools.
