Since the Culver City USD and the city of Culver City have the same congruent boundaries and share the same tax base, what affects one will have an effect on the other.
In Agreement
At least Paul Ehrlich and I can agree that our local school district’s current debt is $33.8M. What is still owed by our community in principle and interest comes to about $57.5M. If you divide this by our population of 39,000 (by gosh, here’s something else we can agree on), it comes to a debt per capita of $1,475.
Using the Fitch Ratings criteria, our debt puts our small town into their Low Overall Debt level.
For those of you who don’t recognize the name, Fitch Ratings has been a highly respected, independent credit ratings company for the past one hundred years.
Every Man, Woman and Child
If the School Board’s $106M bond passes, our debt ratio would skyrocket from $1,475 to over $7,000 for every man, woman and child. It would make Culver City’s debt rating leap-frog over Fitch’s next two higher ratings levels: Average and Above-Average, and land us in their High Overall Debt level.
Leaping Lizards!
What do you think would happen to our community’s credit rating if it jumped from one of Fitch’s lowest credit ratings to one of its highest? Would it have a positive or negative effect on our future borrowing? Will Culver City’s future interest costs go up or down?
Those Were the Days …
If the School Board’s oversized bond measure passes, you can kiss our days of historically low tax rates goodbye. Those days will be only a fond memory.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
