Before You Vote on Miller Place Bond, You Should Know...

On Monday, March 24th, the MPSD community will vote yes or no on the $7.5-million bond proposal which includes security, maintenance and upgrades to outdoor athletic facilities. Many of the projects proposed within this bond need to be done, including repair of the athletic fields.
 
So if the bond proposal is voted down, then important questions are: Will the security upgrades be done? Will the athletic fields be fixed so that they can be used safely? The answer to these questions has to be yes, as these projects need to be done even if another bond proposal has to be put before the community so they may be accomplished.

However, when asked how these projects will be accomplished if the March 24th bond proposal is defeated, the BOE and the MPSD's superintendent have not been willing to answer. They only say that there is not enough time to have another vote on another bond package more acceptable to the community.

This, however, cannot be true given the following facts: Forty-five days are required by law to pass between BOE announcement of a bond proposal and its being voted upon by the community. The number of days between February 5th, when the current bond proposal was approved by the BOE, and March 24th, when the vote will take place, is 47. Number of days between March 26th, the date when BOE meets after the bond vote, and May 20th, when the community votes on the budget and BOE candidates, is 54. In other words, there is enough time to have another bond and another vote on May 20th. 

MPSD also claims that it had to rush this proposal so that, if the bond passes, then construction could start by summer 2015. However, no schedule to support this contention was shown to the community. This bond did not need to be rushed. Time was needed for the development of the facts, including the provision of a cost comparison between turf vs. grass for fields, which was not provided to the community by the administration.

In addition to not being shown the schedule of the project, we have also been misled on the true cost of the bond. MSPD claims that the bond's net cost after building aid will be $2.538 million, or one-third of $7.5 million. This is not true: The true cost of the bond, using MPSD's own data, will be $5.1 million, or almost 70 percent of the $7.5 million bond.

Therefore, the community need not be afraid to vote down this bond, as there is enough time for a new, more cost-effective bond to be developed for vote on May 20th.