Posted By: Dad of Two
This site is great! I still think the deck is stacked against the taxpayer, but at least I'm not alone. I visited the Okemos Citizens Millage Committee site and it's pretty slick. I have some questions the Committee or maybe other interested parties might be able to answer:
- The millage rate table shows Okemos down the list for this area, but what are the average school taxes per homestead or parcel? With the average SEV in Okemos, I'll bet we're near the top in taxes per homestead or parcel.
- Who is on the Okemos Citizens Millage Committee? How many are public school employees? (Okemos or otherwise)
- Who paid for the technology consultant? Who is this person? Did the technology consultant do any political consulting?
- Have any of the technology suppliers contributed to the committee in any way?
- Who donated the website design?
One thing I do know, if the bond passes, that will free up money for salaries and employee benefits.
In talking to people, I hear a widespread belief that whatever we're spending on public schools now, it isn't enough and it could never be too much. (I used to be one of those people.) Wake up everybody! We've got to start questioning beliefs like that. Kids in the Okemos schools have received very good educations over the years, but I think they can get even better ones at less cost if we keep the pressure on. Remember, in business the highest cost provider is generally not the highest quality provider. Most of the time it's the other way around. Vote NO on May 8th!