School rollover bond addresses maintenance

I wanted to explain why I feel we, as a community, need to pass the RollOver Bond Issue for our local school district.

I believe it is imperative to address maintenance issues on many of our aging school district buildings. The average age of the district's buildings is approximately 37 years. If you think about your home, in 37 years you have probably roofed the house once if not two times, painted the exterior five to seven times, replaced flooring two or three times, upgraded electrical, plumbing and fixtures once or twice and likely replaced windows and other items throughout your home. We see our school district's buildings in the same condition with many in dire need of improvement. Most need some type of maintenance, and because of the size of the structures these costs are quite high. We need to keep these structures in good condition and as up to date as possible because the cost to replace them would be prohibitive.

Remember that because of retiring bonds, this rollover bond will not cost us as taxpayers anything more than we are currently paying. In fact, the school rate will go from the current rate of $0.60 to $0.55 per $100 of assessed value.

Finally, some may be concerned whether these monies will actually be used for their intended purpose or used to meet future budget woes. The manner in which the rollover bond is structured requires these funds only be spent for the purposes stated in the rollover bond.

To ensure funds are properly spent there will be a citizens advisory board which will have to approve of expenditure of these funds and in addition these funds are also overseen by the Churchill County Debt Management Committee.

So please give serious thought to the passage of this rollover bond issue and how important it is not only to our children but also to our whole community.

(The committee meets tonight at 6 p.m. at the school district office, 545 E. Richards St.)



Mike Berney, a life-long resident of Fallon, is a broker with Berney Realty.