What’s Nancy Smoking?

This email about Nancy Nilsen’s reply to my post is a little more aggressive than my normal blog posts. I sent it to the members of Let Duluth Vote who are rightfully bitter about losing their right to vote. But the snide comment at the end does reflect the attitude I’m adopting after a year of stonewalling by the School Board.

“I stand by my post. While it is theoretically possible that the next nine successive school boards will take money out of operations to pay for the $407 million Red Plan obligation it will cost $11 million more annually to do this than is being levied now in property taxes. Taken out of our taxes that $11 million over twenty years would be 54% of the total $407 million. The current levy is 46% of the total Red Plan costs.

And about those savings. Even Dixon only claims that there will be $5.3 million in annual savings from his building plan not $11 million. I think that two thirds of the $5.3 million figure is a fraud but lets assume its true. That still leaves the District scrambling to find $6.7 million a year to fund the Red Plan from its operations or from a gift from Bill and Melinda Gates, OR maybe other tax levies sneakily passed to pay for it. One way or another the taxpayers will pay for the Red Plan – all $407 million of it. As for the sales of buildings. Twenty years times $6.7 million equals $134 million dollars. I don’t recall anyone saying that the School District could make that kind of money by selling off its old schools.

Nilsen must be smoking something I gave up in college.

Harry”

About the author