Following the defeat at the polls yesterday of their plan to saddle the public with nearly $10 million in debt over the next 25 years, the gym boosters vow today both on KJAM and in the Madison Daily Leader that "there is no Plan B" (Bud Postma, MDL, 2007.04.11, p. 1). Darin Namken, driving force behind the failed project's marketing campaign, said in an interview aired this morning on KJAM that he might not even want to participate in any effort to resurrect the gym plan.
If, as MDL notes, the gym feasibility committee met and studied the idea for "several years," how can they not have had a Plan B? How can they abandon all that hard work so quickly? How can they turn their back on a project for which they've already spent thousands for architectural plans and who knows how much for advertising? The athletic supporters have lost one two-month campaign. Big deal. 57% of voters said they couldn't afford a 25-year tax increase to pay for his project. 43% said they could afford that sort of contribution.
So, Messrs. Postma, Namken, Schaefer, et al, here's Plan B, if you're interested:
- Find the 43% who voted for the project and get them to donate the money they were willing to pay in increased taxes.
- Find the 57% who voted against the project and ask them how much they would be willing to donate. I'll bet you could find a farmer or three who would say, "Hey, I couldn't commit $1500 a year for 25 years, but I can donate $100 right now, and if corn prices stay high, I'll have another hundred for you in the fall."
- Keep the website. It's building online recognition, and it has all sorts of good links from Madison's most exciting current affairs blog. Keep promoting!
- Target your market: Have committee members shaking hands and passing the hat at every local track meet, golf meet, tennis match, baseball game, softball game, and so on for however long it takes to raise the money.
- Keep building urgency. Go to your potential donors and tell them, "See? We can't count on a free ride from the taxpayers. If we want this done right, we've got to do it ourselves, and do it now." Don't let the momentum you did build fade by making it sound like you don't have a plan or the motivation to keep moving forward.
- Knock off this defeatist talk. You may not have been able to convince the majority of the district voters who came to the polls, but that doesn't mean everybody thought you were wrong. For every cynical tightwad who can't recognize a great opportunity for the community (or, more accurately, for every working family whose budget is already tight), I'll bet some ambitious fundraisers could find another family or sports fan who has some wiggle room in his budget and would love to contribute to a big sports arena.
- Go after the corporate sponsors. I doubt I can convince the CEO of Heidelberger Painting (Madville Times's dad) to bid for naming rights, but you might well find some local businessmen who would love to bid for the chance to name the arena. (Think Swiftel Center... and check out some numbers on the Swiftel Center and other similar projects from a study done on building an events center in Mandan, ND). Bid out those scoreboard banners, lobby signs, memorial bricks, whatever it takes.
- Be patient. Call the Moores in Fairbury, Nebraska, and ask them how they've dealt with increasing construction costs. Good things come to those who wait. And in the end, after all the hard and humble work of fundraising, when you cut the ribbon and throw out the first pitch (um, you're the sports guys -- pick your own metaphor), you can enjoy one of the sweetest forms of satisfaction I know of: proving your opponents wrong by achieving something they didn't think was possible.
It may also help to tie in renovation of the HS Auditorium, HS Library and remodeling of HS Principal's Offices so the Office can visibly see the front entrance (security issue), then go back to the City and request a portion of the extra penny sales tax revenue since the Community Center is paid off now. Donations could probably create $1 Million, extra penny tax could generate $3 Million and taxpayers may be willing to allocate the added $2 Million in a 25-year bond issue at 1/3rd the taxpayer commitment of the first proposal. Plus, we'd get some needed improvements in our 45-year old High School.
ReplyDeleteI'd never thought about the office location as a security issue, but you're absolutely right. There are a lot of design issues with the school that we could address.
ReplyDeleteKeep the ideas coming! More ideas like that aired in an open forum like this would help synthesize more diverse viewpoints. Feel free to forward this post to your friends and have a comment-fest here. The gym committee seems to have operated in private for too long, then sprung its proposal on the public and pushed too quickly. Their campaign website offered a contact form, but they weren't too quick on the draw in responding. I never received a direct reply from any committee member to my question about imposing user fees or ticket surcharge of some sort to defray the costs. (Someone did post an anonymous comment on the subject, but no one from the committee was willing to do me the courtesy of a direct, by-name reply.) Another loyal reader has commented that the gym committee seemed hesitant to offer straight answers even when they had them.
Public discussion is not a liability. It's not something to be afraid of. Fearless public discussion produces better plans with broader support. In this case, public discussion could generate enough support to make build an events center and maybe even generate extra revenue for other capital improvements entirely through private donations and user fees, without having to impose higher taxes. Such an effort is difficult, but it's worth a shot.
There was a letter sent all over to school board members, parents and gym committee members with poor photos of Madison students on Facebook or Myspace at parties-Paul and Julie Lampert house. Letter was two page and typed with picuters. Some say Corey H wrote it and mailed it to people. Have you seen it or did you send it to the persons? They said it was written well.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the fact that when people see something well-written, they automatically think of me. However, I had nothing to do with this letter. I haven't even seen it. Another reader told me he'd seen it, and I basically pooh-poohed it, saying an anonymous letter with scurrilous accusations doesn't contribute much to the public discourse.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, if I have something to say, I'll say it here, out loud, in public, with my name on it. Five years ago, when I pushed for a public vote on Madison's first opt-out attempt, I didn't recruit other people to carry the petitions just to keep me out of the public eye; I stood in front of the grocery store and went door to door to get signatures myself. Sneaky anonymous whispering is obviously not my style. And if people are whispering that I wrote this letter, I'd appreciate it if they'd come talk to me face to face, so I can set the record straight.
Besides, I'm too darn cheap to spend money on issues like this. I didn't spend so much as a postage stamp in expressing my opposition to the new gym.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous, a letter like that's not Cory's style. Personally, I wouldn't doubt it if a student, or former student (maybe someone in college) wrote it. Some of us a re a little past our prime for doing the whole Facebook / MySpace thing.
ReplyDeleteBack in the late fifties, my senior class decided it was time we had a new place for our home BB games. Where we had been holding the games was an all purpose city building that "way back" it had been the "opera house," which in the summer traveling theater groups would perform. There were 11 in the senior class and basically the talk was that there wasn't enough attendance at the home games to warrent a new facility, even though it wouldn't be strictly a school building. So every day after school, when there was a home game, some of us would make arrangements to drive our parents car to school so we could hit all the businesses in this town of 500, and urge them to attend the game that night. Attendance increased remarkably and the town got their new multi-use building. Both the old and new buildings were where graduation was held, proms were held there, an occasional city dance, school dances, etc. were all held in this building. The new building wasn't built until after I was out of school, but my sisters benefitted from it. A lot of smaller towns could benefit from doing something like this.
ReplyDeleteredhatter has a good point regarding crowds creating a need for a new facility, but Madison has been at capacity for two years for boy's basketball (families are being turned away)and not quite full for girl's basketball, but very strong crowds for volleyball and always strong for wrestling. It seems that as we become a smaller student population, the school becomes more of a magnet for family entertainment, much like what we see in smaller communities where they have nothing else to do. There was a proposal a few years ago by a school board member to expand the current Middle School gym. Maybe we should dig that out and look at expanding versus building a separate gym. Maybe there are some savings?
ReplyDeleteI was one who received that letter of the boys' BB team evidently (I don't know any of those students) drinking. It was well written, but it was anonymous and with no dates attributable to the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI don't doubt that this has occurred, just like I don't doubt that nothing is done to these students for violating the rules. After all, if they were suspended, what would that do to the sports fanatics' hopes for a state win in BB, and for their hopes for a new gym?
If you have rules, they should be be enforced. If the board/administration doesn't intend to enforce them, then get rid of them. I would love to see this letter and these issues addressed at a school board meeting, but I won't hold my breath on that one.
I read an earlier comment from a gym supporter which said that the elderly have their taxes frozen so implied this bond issue would not have affected them. WRONG! This same argument was used during the first attempt at an opt out and was wrong then and is wrong now. If the promoters are trying to use this to get the elderly to vote for the new gym, they are lying, albeit maybe not purposely. But they should get their facts straight.
ReplyDeleteExample: An elderly person has his valuation (valuation, NOT taxes) frozen at $50,000. His property taxes will remain assessed on a valuation of $50,000. But a new bond issue imposes a new tax on his property with a valuation of $50,000, and he will pay it, just like everyone else. And just like the opt out that he is also paying for based on his $50,000 valuation.
Have been gone so am catching up with reading the Daily Leader and letters to the editor about the gym. Dr. Palleria had a real gem at the end of his letter of April 6, and I quote: "This is about equal sacrifice, not equal giving!" Huh???
ReplyDeleteWhat is equal sacrifice between my paying $20,000 or so over the course of the bond issue and someone else paying $0 to $1,500 over the same course?
There are a number of things that I would like to comment on in the aftermath of the recent election.
ReplyDeleteOne of these was the matter of absentee ballots. City and school election absentee ballots evidently don’t have to be available any certain time before the election date, they could be available as late as the day before the election. The problem with this is that many people could be deprived of their right to vote. There should be a certain set length of time before an election that absentee ballots have to be available. I believe this issue is going to be addressed by the state elections board this year, and hopefully something will be implemented to correct this problem.
Another item is the capital outlay fund levy. Locally that levy is set at a maximum of 3%, and that is what our district has levied most of the time. With rising valuations every year, the capital outlay fund levy at a set rate of 3% generates more and more money each year with no limit to what it can take in. Maybe an idea would be to cap the capital outlay fund increase per year at a certain amount of dollars, or percentage of increase, and anything over that amount which is raised by the 3% levy would go into the general fund instead. That would take a legislative change. The general fund which pays salaries and most expenses is the one that is short of money and is limited each year by the school aid formula, but that is the one most in need of extra dollars.
Along with this, the law currently allows the board to spend by capital outlay certificates up to 1.5 of the total valuation of the school district without referral to district for a vote. This is something the legislature should consider and perhaps reduce that amount to 1% or a certain dollar figure. Given the rapid rise in valuations the actions that can be committed to without voter approval are getting very large.
Another idea to raise money for education is to tax soda pop. Cigarettes and liquor are taxed as they are not considered essentials, are generally unhealthy, and are considered a personal choice. Pop is also a personal choice. Its price varies greatly from store to store, and another nickel or dime tax on every container of pop would not be noticed. Other states have a tax to encourage recycling, so it isn’t impossible to implement. If you use a figure of 400,000 people drinking 10 cans a week for a $1 per person in tax revenue weekly and spread that over one year, that is a revenue source of approximately $21,000,000 for education. This would a be a purely voluntary tax, as no one needs pop and it may even be a more healthy choice not to drink it. Spread out outside the formula on a per student basis this provides lots of easy revenue for the schools. I don’t know how much pop is consumed each week in South Dakota, but I would guess my estimate is on the very low side.
In Charles Mix county there has been litigation concerning the lack of diversity on the county commission. Perhaps we have the same situation here in regard to the school board. The way it is now with 7 members elected at large, a small group of voters can essentially elect all of the board. Maybe the school board should be elected by zones within the school district, a certain number from rural, from the lake, and from specific areas within the city. This would allow for more diverse views, better understanding of issues, and maybe a better rapport with the community at large. It just might be easier to get consensus on issues if there were more broad representation on the board itself. Madison School district is large enough to do this.
Lastly regarding the school gym I appreciate what the voters did in rejecting the bond issue. I hope the supporters will consider some other way of getting their gym without giving us a large tax increase. Perhaps the gym committee should also have considered a larger segment of the community in working up their plans.
Neal McIntyre
Who's on this committee? Other than not having a plan b, what's been their reaction?
ReplyDeleteMembers of the committee included MHS activities director Bud Postma, CreditSoup president Darin Namken, insurance salesman Randy Schaefer, and Dairy Queen owner DeLon Mork. Dean Gehrels wrote a letter to the editr the night before the election and declared his membership on the committee as well. All of the above except for Mork appear to have acted as spokesmen for the project in the press. Postma and Namken made the only public comments I am aware of the day after the election, each expressing disappointment but averring the nonexistence of a Plan B. Namken went a little further on the radio, saying it's time for those who identified other needs in the district to step forward and organize campaigns to address those problems.
ReplyDeleteBud Postma. There's a name I haven't thought much about in a while. So he's athletic (er, activities) director now?
ReplyDeleteI always wondered how much activities directors of the past knew about the non-athletic activities they supposedly oversaw.
Cory's comments about a lack of discussion about theater facilities gives me reason to believe that's still the case.
I wanted to pose this question to the gym committee members and supporters to try to get them to understand my point of view.
ReplyDeleteSuppose that I wanted to build a, oh, say around $5 building to house a new stage and auditorium for theater, a few debate practice rooms, a new band room, several individual practice rooms for students, reinstate the gifted program with a gifted education teacher, start school-sponsored Destination Imagination (used to be Olympics of the Mind) which is open to all students who want a challenge, not just the athletically or academically inclined, expand the band and the vocal music offerings for students along with additional teaching staff, and expand the arts department.
And I would be willing to dedicate from $0 to $125 a year toward this new building and expense. But I want all of you who want the new gym to pay around $700 to $1,000 a year for this. Would you be willing to do so? Would you consider that equal sacrifice on everyone's part?
Do you now understand the opposition's point of view?