by Helen Sabin, Corvallis
Lock the doors! Pull the curtains! They are coming for your money again!
Coming April 15 to valley voters is a mail-back-ballot for a PERMANENT Levy (tax) for the Community College District of the Bitterroot Valley. (CCDBV)
No, don’t get confused. This is NOT for the new Community College Campus and Buildings to be constructed sometime in the future. It is for planning and administration and to pay for the money drain of the current college.
Don’t be misled. Here are the comments from the minutes of the college itself:
Bitterroot College’s (BC) current fiscal position is dire*; BC as currently funded and with current programming is NOT sustainable in FY2022. *Dire=in serious negative condition
BC facility is in dire need of safety upgrades!
BC facility is in dire need of new HVAC system – 5000 sq ft common area needs new heating system.
Smart voters did NOT want a PERMANENT 8.86 mill levy for the college and voted it down in 2020. Now it is even higher at 9.75 mills. IF we want new taxes, we also want the ability to say yes or no to the tax increases. With a permanent tax, we lose all control. Permanent means forever and there are NO stops to how high the taxes can go.
I hope they do it again now in 2022. We do NOT need MORE PERMANENT TAXES! Remember the word, “Permanent!”
And what does PERMANENT mean anyway?
Permanent means this tax:
• Never goes away again.
• Does not have to be approved again.
• There are no limits to how high the tax percentage can be raised and will only go up, up, up!
• Taxpayers cannot say no they won’t pay after the tax is approved by voters.
• Taxpayers have no control to stop or remove this tax. Your grandkids will be paying for it in twenty years!
According to the chairperson of the trustees, the “state legislature” required the rise in amount to 9.75 mills for “adult education.” Consider that we already pay for adult literacy on our taxes and local education and schools, but now we get to pay an additional 9.75 mills for adult education too? Isn’t this double taxation under two different names with the same goal? To “educate” adults?
It is NOT “kids” in the valley who attend the college according to documents. Mostly it is adults who attend and there are NOT enough of them to generate enough revenue to keep the college open. Costs are too high, the old college building is falling apart, and thanks to Biden, inflation is killing everyone. Gas just went to $4.08 a gallon/at one station it was $4.95 today. Adult students can pay their own way!
Be the same smart voter you were in 2020! REJECT this college tax or levy.
Vote NO on the college levy! DUMP THIS PERMANENT TAX! VOTE NO!