This Thursday, the seven-member D200 board, most lacking formal education in finance, will ignore expert Community Finance Committee (CFC) guidance by voting to fund PE/Pool Project 2, not knowing its true cost with anything like precision, and without the referendum voters previously said they wanted.
This project is estimated at $102 million, excluding overruns and interest. Said an architect friend, since they are basing this off of schematics, not blueprints, expect closer to $200 million.
CFC have expressed reservations about long-term debt certificates. In 2020, 23,000+ voters expressed the need for a referendum for capital expenditures of $5 million or more.
One CFC co-chair, Steven Miller, a CPA, is the executive director of business operations for Schaumburg District 54. The other, Greg Kolar, is a CPA and corporate tax accountant. Another member, Kathleen O’Dell, holds a PhD in Economics and an MA in Urban Planning.
Naperville District 203 is abating taxes for the seventh consecutive year. Like D200, it developed an unexpected surplus during COVID, choosing in 2021 to abate $10 million to ease taxpayer burden during a time of duress.
Voters in the Lake Forest school district narrowly approved a $106 million bond referendum.
Our board? Contortions avoiding referendum. Ignores expert advice. Presented misleading data to CFC and public. With project 1 complete, 2, 3, 4, 5, to go, completely ignores academic projects 3, 4, 5, doesn’t consider or preserve funding resources for those, laser focuses on PE/Pool project 2 in a vacuum despite lip service to the contrary. Board President Tom Cofsky assures us that budgeting lessons gleaned these past ten years mean they can precisely forecast the next 20. Read his lips, no new taxes from their funding scheme. Never mind an unstable post-pandemic economy, skyrocketing interest rates, historic inflation, a looming recession, and this being Oak Park. What could go wrong?
The board gives weak excuses for bypassing referendum, but no valid reasons. Email the board, BOE@oprfhs.org. Demand the referendum 23,000+ voted for.
Jack Powers
Oak Park