Voters in Mesa County School District 51 are being asked to foot the bill for a brand new $145 million high school for Grand Junction, raising taxes on homeowners to pay for a new building instead of maintaining and upgrading existing facilities. It’s wrong to inflict this new huge tax burden on taxpayers who are still recovering from the economic downturn forced on us by Gov. Jared Polis.
But what if I told you it’s even worse?
Our local Republican statist oligarchy, which includes the sellout board of commissioners and rich political consultants like Josh Penry’s Ascent Media, are all lined up to support 4B or as I call it $B. Scot McIniss and Janet Rowland are big supporters when they take time out from harassing the Mesa County Clerk for doing her job. Penry’s outfit is reportedly doing all the media for $B FOR FREE. Why would a guy like Penry run a whole expensive campaign to pass a $145 million tax hike FOR FREE?!
Kickbacks, of course! There’s $145 MILLION up for grabs. Crony contractors, overpriced bids, thousand dollar toilet seats, all the corruption you’d expect from a Democrat urban cesspool right here in Grand Junction!! Best of all, since it’s Republicans stealing the taxpayers blind nobody will be the wiser!
WE THE THE PEOPLE ARE RISING IN MESA COUNTY. Janet Rowland and the rest of the commissioners need to be replaced. In the meantime, DON’T let RiNOs steal Mesa County blind! Vote NO on Dollar Bills 4 RiNOs.
NO on 4B!
Decently written and formatted diary with an anti-tax point of view. However, the weird side trips into defending Clerk Peters are off topic and betray that the author is a Trumper conspiracy theorist. The Mesa County Patriots youtube channel is dedicated to endless videos of members disrupting City Council and other civic meetings, and declaiming against Democratic politicians.
For the pro-student and pro-teacher view on the bond issue, see the reasons for the bond issue and mill levy override here. 36%s of GJHS students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. 33% are not white. GJHS teachers are paid poorly, like most teachers in Colorado.
The Grand Junction high school was built in 1956. Chances are, it has asbestos tiles and insulation, leaky ceilings, broken windows, antiquated ventilation systems that promote an unsafe environment when School District 51's covid cases are > 100 as of yesterday. Apparently, the District tracks its finances well.
I would urge Mesa County voters to at least become informed about the bond issue. Talk to a teacher or other educator. Ask a GJHS high school student what the school is like as a physical facility. Then ask yourself if you want to invest in the future generations of your community….or not.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but do like to improve argumentation. In this case, it would be helpful to compare two policy provisions on common standards.
– How much would it cost for "maintaining and upgrading existing facilities," something you seem to be suggesting is needed?
– Inflating the impact to the total cost of $145 million and NOT mentioning the $30 million that is NOT a part of the tax burden undercuts your argument.
– What's the timeframe? If the total is $115 million over 20 years, $6 million is the impact on year-to-year property taxes.
– GJ paper says "The property tax to pay off the bond equals about $5 per month for a $300,000 home." Calling it "new huge tax burden on taxpayers who are still recovering from the economic downturn" may make an impact with some. How many are still in recovery mode that would be impacted by $60 per year, $0.16 per day?
– any chance you have actual examples of the government corruption you are worried about? I tend to not credit defamation without some sort of evidence.