First of all, it is our privilege to vote and we are all entitled to vote how we choose. NO ONE should be pointing fingers or blaming ANYONE ELSE for the way they chose to vote. Since when is it a crime to have a difference of OPINION?

I wonder how many people did their research on this before telling others their vote is wrong! I did a bit of research and here is what I found:

One commerical property I used as an example has had the property taxes increased more than 30% in five years while the assessed value has remained the same. WHY? Because funds are mismanaged and when they are depleted, they'll just tax us again. That's the all-purpose solution to every financial problem!

Property taxes are not figured for just residential property but also commerical and agricultural. So while everyone that voted yes was considering their small increase in taxes on one house, what about people that would have been looking at several hundreds or thousands of dollars?

How about this to consider...why are we only looking at property owners to help fund the schools? Why shouldn't ALL residents have to help. There are plenty of renters in this town that have children that attend our schools. Shouldn't they have to contribute? Just food for thought.

Why are we so for our local government raising our taxes when if Washington does it WE ALL AGREE it is WRONG! Government, whether federal, state or city has to do their job and manage a budget. The answer when money has run out is not to ask the people for more.

I have children in the LCS disctrict and recieved letters from the schools urging me to vote yes. I was quite offended by the letter because it failed to communicate the facts honestly. While the school can afford to buy buildings with appropriated funds, ALL of the overhead costs to maintain that building come out of the general funds which the school has run out of? It is reprehensible, in my opinion, to give the people half of the truth and attempt to sway them. Get rid of the politics and get real!

For all of the people that voted yes and want to be angry with those that voted no, why don't you get angry with the 60% of our community that didn't even bother to vote! For all of the people that want to see our school receive extra funds that they wouldn't even need if they'd stop careless spending and adhere to a budget, write them a check. Give them your money. Who's stopping you?

One last thing, some people really need to open their eyes to the games being played here. Recall the last time we did this...the school CHOSE to cut some of the most important and valuable programs PURPOSEFULLY to guilt those of us that voted no, to stir up those that voted yes. Here we are again. The "no's" have it. It's a blame game people. It's politics, politics, politics!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!

Clear Conscience,

I do understand that the income tax is also a factor though I failed to mention that in my post.

I also realize that the school district has nothing to do with our property taxes having increased, however, we cannot afford to have those taxes increased again and again. Some people make a living on commercial and agricultural land and to further tax that property is taking food out of the mouths of their children. Increasing taxes is NEVER the solution! Yet this is the common course of action and it has to stop.

I did mention in my first post one solution...the school doesn't need to be purchasing new buildings that all the overhead costs to maintain it come from the general funds that they are lacking (heating/air conditioning, employees, furnishings, etc.) Another observation a friend of mine brought to my attention is that when her mother was a teacher many years ago, she did not have any aides or assistants. We now have many teachers assistants at our schools and they are not necessary. My friends mom made the comment that back in her day, she did all the work for her classroom. I can recall my school days and the aides my teachers had were volunteer moms.

I am not putting a price on education. I appreciate that our children are our future. However, when we are providing our schools with adequate funds to provide our children with a quality education, they need to spend it wisely. These are hard economic times for everyone.

Also, this is not the first time we have gone to vote on this increase. We voted earlier this year and mark my words, we will be back in six months to do it again.

Let us also bear in mind, the average age of an Iowan is something like 67...there are many retired, elderly people in this community that live on fixed incomes and have a hard time paying for prescriptions. They cannot afford to have their property taxes increased either. I saw many of them out voting on September 9th.

The biggest shame in all of this is that we have the opportunity to speak up and have a say and less than 4000 people cared enough to take a little time out of their day to exercise that PRIVILEGE!