LETTER: Vote against bond referendum

The current unemployment rate in Aiken County is approximately 10 percent, but in the City of Aiken it's 16 percent. Our federal, state and local governments continue to spend our tax dollars frivolously and increase our taxes and fees, while families struggle to pay mortgages, put food on their tables and keep their jobs.

The State of South Carolina budget is approximately $20 billion and 47 percent of that is spent on education but after years of neglecting to maintain its school buildings and failing to graduate more than 55 percent of its high school students in four years, the Aiken County School Board wants us to approve a 20 year debt of $236 million plus interest.

We're told it has to be done now because interest rates and construction costs are low. The school board failed to tell us, as Todd Etheredge, mayor of Jackson, recently did that the required amount for refurbishing or building new schools was $180 million. They had the audacity to add another $56 million to the taxpayers' bill for such things as football stadiums.

The bill for $236 million will be $116 per $100,000 valuation of residential property and $174 per $100,000 for business and rental property for the next 20 years. While the school board does not mind strapping the taxpayer, they make no attempt to reign in their own costs. There are currently 23,692 students in Aiken County who are being served by five school districts. The largest has 9,589 students while the smallest has only 2,017. The salaries for the superintendents in each district ranges from $97,716 to $90,428. These figures do not include support staff or other district expenses. Yet there is no attempt to consolidate districts to reduce costs and make the system more efficient.

State law limits debt obligations to 8 percent of assessed property value. The law was put into place so counties would not get into debt over their heads. This referendum is designed to circumvent that law.

In the final analysis, the Aiken County School Board and its supporters want taxpayers to concentrate on the needs of the children. They also want us to forget the economic times we live in, the 20 years of debt taxpayers will incur and the pathetic high school graduation rate. They want us to overlook the bloated, inefficient bureaucracy and their decades of neglect to building maintenance. In short, they want us to foot the bill for their inefficiencies so they can continue doing what they've always done.

It's time to say enough, this is not the time for approval of $236 million. It's time for the Aiken County Board of Education to be held accountable. Vote no on May 25.

Peter J. Seaha

Aiken