Letters: Just say ‘no’ to keeping district’s school tax

This is an argument against Dysart Unified #89 budget override for the Nov. 3 election.

The DUSD budget override was originally approved in 2000 as a temporary measure, and it was designed to allow property assessments to catch up to the rapid increase in school enrolment during an explosion of new home construction.

When the proposal was initially put before the taxpayers, we were assured that once the county assessor got caught up, the district would no longer need any extra funds, and the override would sunset in seven short years. Since then, we have been asked to renew this “temporary” override several times, and it is currently set to expire in 2023.  

In spite of this very same proposal being overwhelmingly rejected by the voters just last November, the school board has decided that our vote didn’t matter.  They are again demanding that we keep our property taxes arbitrarily high for yet another seven years.  

Not only are they making this demand during a time of severe economic uncertainty for many families, but they are doing it after receiving a 20% increase in state funding.

How much longer does this need to continue? How much more do we need to pay? It’s time for the override to sunset. It’s time to say “no”.