by Robert Walsh, Hamilton
Value-savvy taxpayers in Ravalli Co. should vote YES for the BVCC levy
If you are a taxpayer in Ravalli County, you are already a supporter of community colleges in Montana. Every year, you, as a taxpayer, have been financially supporting community colleges in Flathead, Custer, and Dawson counties.
Your tax dollars from Ravalli County pour into the state treasury and are then doled out to various entities, including the Montana University System (MUS). In fiscal year 2022 (FY22), the MUS total education budget appropriation was $1.7 billion, with $53 million of that taxpayer money earmarked for community colleges in MT.
https://mus.edu/data/operating_budgets/FY22/index.html
How much did the individual community colleges get? Flathead Community College got $9.2 million; Miles Community College got $2.9 million; Dawson Community College got $2 million. Those millions of dollars of taxpayer money will be spent and re-spent in the counties where those community colleges exist, benefiting those local economies significantly.
All three of those MT community colleges are also supported by a local levy. Without the local levy, they wouldn’t get that annual influx of cash from the state. Until now, Ravalli County has been getting nothing.
So, it comes down to this. If the Bitterroot Valley Community College levy passes, Ravalli County will start getting its fair share of that $1.7 billion MUS taxpayer money. Passing the BVCC levy will bring your tax dollars back home to Ravalli County.
Before May 3, be a value-savvy taxpayer and vote YES for the BVCC levy!
Helen Sabin says
This dude is NOT savvy.
Here’s why I call him a dude – or perhaps dud would be better? The Montana code gave the TRUSTEES at the Bitterroot Valley community College the CHOICE….CHOICE….to make the college levy durational or permanent. MCA 10-15-245, the governing body (i.e. Trustees for the district) decide whether the levy is “permanent or … durational.” Permanent means the trustees do NOT have to come back and ask us to approve any raise in the levy. Durational means they had to come back to the voters to approve any requests they make for more money. THEY CHOSE TO MAKE IT PERMANENT so they could have a steady stream of money flowing in to spend and not have to worry about coming back to voters once again and defend their actions.
. VOTE against the levy! Get your ballots in by May 3!! Do it tomorrow. You can also drop them off at the recorders office in Hamilton or in Florence. Then get angry!
Call the trustees to see if they “approved” or voted for the PERMANENT status of the levy. If so demand that they resign! we DO NOT NEED so called trustees as we cannot trust them to make wise decisions. In their arrogance, they did NOT want to come back and ask voters to approve their decisions and to raise the levy. They gave us the middle finger salute and laughed their way to the money! VOTE against the levy. No we do NOT lose the college – that is another of their lies! We will decide when WE want to spend $25 million or more for a rich woman, Terry Ryan, to have a building named after herself. I suggest the women’s rest rooms all over campuses fitting for her participation in misleading voters in the valley. Do not be like this man who authored this opinion – be a “real” savvy but angry voter to teach a lessons – DON”T LIE TO US! VOTE AGAINST THE LEVY!
Eric Gren says
Passing the levy will also allow our students’ tuition dollars to be used by Bitterroot Valley Community College to continue to serve our Valley. Currently, every dime that our students pay goes up to the University of Montana.