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Letter: Cost to voters differs if I own more property
Op-Ed · September 14, 2017
As I write this it is Sunday night and nobody knows how the school referendum will turn out but the one thing the West Branch School District referendum highlights is why there is a need for changes to the voting process as it now stands.
Not only in West Branch but throughout the state.
If the largest property owners in a school district, or any property owner, do not live in the district they cannot vote for anything in regards to the school. They cannot vote for a 20 million dollar referendum that will make them the highest paying taxpayers in the school district nor can they vote for the school board members. To me this is a classic example of taxation without representation and it should be changed.
If an eligible voter living in the school district but owns no property and pays no school district taxes can vote and the aforementioned property owners cannot there is something wrong with the process. This is a matter I hope the state legislature will address.
Likewise I hope the legislature will address the matter of satellite voting. There is simply no reason for any school district to waste money when it has never been easier for everybody to vote. In this regard I think it is truly sad that the West Branch School Board showed a total disregard for tax dollars wasted. According to the Cedar County Auditor’s Office the cost per vote for the satellite voting which took place earlier in the year was substantially higher, per vote, than the votes taken on election day. The school board and the administration had to have known this and chose to have the satellite voting again this time around. Each school board member is responsible for ensuring that all funds spent on any scale are spent for good reason and only if necessary. Let’s hope with some new faces on the board some common sense will prevail.
Rod Hanson
West Branch
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