Thursday, April 24, 2008

Question One Passes

Question one passed on a vote of 1782 to 1304 and question two failed by a vote of 1388 to 1694. 3092 of 6639 registered voters voted for a 46.5% turnout.

The sale of the bonds in the amount of $980,000 for the land is tentatively scheduled for June 9. The district will receive the proceeds from the sale of the bonds in mid-July at which time the district will close on the sale of the adjacent properties.

The board will be discussing what to do with the structures on the property until such time the property is needed for a school building. There are several options: 1) sell the structures and have them removed from the premises; 2) put the two houses up for rent.

Voter turn out was very good for an election held away from the general election. The Delano Vote Yes Committee, and Lisa Sequin and Amy Johnson in particular, deserve lots of credit for their efforts in informing the voters and getting out the vote on April 22. Thank you very much for your hard work.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Polling Places

The polling places for the election on April 22 are as follows:

Delano Middle School for residents of the City of Delano, Rockford Township, Franklin Township and Woodland Township.

Loretto Fire Station for residents of the Cities of Corcoran, Greenfield, Loretto, Medina and Minnetrista.

Independence City Hall for residents of the City of Independence.

Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Land Purchase

I have had several people ask if the purchase agreements were negotiated today would the cost be lower?

We don't know that for sure, which could result in another appraisal and that would be an added expense.

Secondly, if the strategy was to vote this down and try to re-negotiate the purchase agreements that would require another election. The cost to run an election can approximate $18,000 which includes the cost of the judges, printing of ballots, required mailings, etc.

Third, a small reduction in the cost of the land may not have an appreciable affect on the tax impact. The $980,000 purchase price has an estimated tax impact of $1.66 per month on the average tax valued home of $272,500.