Today was a special day. Today we received our Official Ballot for the Special Election to be held on Feb. 11. We noticed that our ballot contained two, count ‘em, two propositions, both of which concern school funding of one sort or another.

Proposition 1: Replacement of expiring educational programs and operations levy:

This is the cheap one! It only asks us to vote for a four-year levy that would have the Aberdeen School District voters and population cover a bill for $5,200,000 for four years, beginning in 2021 and ending in 2024. The total cost of this levy would be $20,800,000, give or take a few hundred thousand.

Proposition 2: Bonds to construct a new Stephens Elementary School:

This is definitely not the cheap one! This one asks us to cover “no more than $46,800,000 to be paid off over 21 years. Or approximately $2,228,571.43 for the first four years.

Now, when you add the $5,200,000 and the $2,228,571.43 together, the cost per year goes up to $7,428,571.43 per year, which is what the average taxpayer is going to be stuck with.

You may argue that Proposition 1 will only last four years and then the taxes will come back down again, but you would be wrong. When Proposition 1 runs its course, in four years, there will be another four or five year levy proposed to take its place, and it will probably be even more than the $5,200,000 because the Aberdeen School District will never have enough money to satisfy their needs, or their wishes, and so on into infinity.

I understand what the School District is trying to do. My wife and I have lived in Aberdeen for 80 years, and have always supported our schools and voted for their levies with only one exception, and that was for placing the new High School on top of hospital hill (where the road has now washed out and disintegrated). I am not anti-school, I am a voter and citizen who thinks there has to be a better, cheaper way to get these things done. Being asked to finance a program that will cost no less than $7.5 million a year, for at least 20 years is a lot to ask of the population that will “reap the benefits” of that program. Before this debt would be paid off, another generation will be born, educated and begin having children of their own.

Think about that.

With a heavy heart, and much trepidation as to the outcome of these propositions, I must say that this time I will be voting to reject these levies. I only hope that enough other voters feel the same way and send a clear, distinct and concise message to the Aberdeen School District.

Larry Wakefield

Aberdeen