Not everybody in our small community has the time to fully study and comprehend the municipal bonds linked to Measure CC in Tuesday’s election.
I knew that my fiscal revelations about the School Board’s Measure CC not being a good fiscal fit for our community were not going to be popular or quite as obvious to see as Hans Christian Anderson’s naive young lad blurting out the naked truth. But it was my duty to my hometown to say what I saw, not to look the other way, as many did.
Baa, Baa-Baa, Baa-Baa
School Board members and supporters will be in selling mode right down to Election Day. They will try and spin everything about their bond in a positive light. Everything except its outlandish financing, which lies in wait just beneath their spinnings.
If they succeed, Measure CC will be taking an ever larger, multi-million-dollar bite out of our pocketbooks for the next 30 years.
Marketing Strategies
Over the last four months, we have been bombarded by the School District’s consultants’ well-plotted marketing strategies: Hard and soft sales pitches with limited transparency and without ever acknowledging the bond’s quirky financing. There have been emotional pleas from community members, pulling at our purse strings, asking us “to do it for the kids” without showing concern to what Measure CC could end up costing our community.
Tijuana Taxi
Measure CC’s structure may not fit the exact financial definition of an infamous Certificate of Appreciation Bond. If CC passes, though, our community better be ready to pay for the wild cab ride to follow.
The Last Straw
Measure CC’s long-term financing resorts to using 20 interest-only payments over the first half of its accelerated debt schedule. Years from now, at a time when our loan should be winding down in its last quartile, we will find ourselves obligated to pay the rich investors almost $75,000,000. That is 70 percent of Measure CC’s $106M face value due over its last seven years.
No Fooling
Once Measure CC is approved, there's no turning back. We will be totally committed at whatever the amounts our future tax rates are set. Supporters only have to convince you to vote for it once, on Election Day.
You've probably heard the old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” But, for Measure CC it could be said, “Fool me once and its shame on me for the next 30 years!
Just say no to Measure CC
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
