From the Jeffersonville News and Tribune:
The idea of borrowing $2 million for capital projects was floated by the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp.’s board of trustees, but was met with some resistance at Monday’s meeting.
Brad Snyder, deputy superintendent, presented the idea of taking out a general obligation bond to put artificial turf on the athletic fields of New Albany and Floyd Central high schools and to improve technology infrastructure in the district, but at a cost of a tax increase to citizens.
“That all becomes relative if tax increase is a four-letter word, that’s one thing,” Snyder said. “But if you look at it in a bigger frame, which I hope that we do here in a minute, that will put a different color on it.”
He said the district could take that money and spend $1.3 million on the new fields. The artificial turf would resist damage from more use — which would allow marching bands and other groups to use the fields — and would cost less in maintenance and repairs, putting about another $30,000 into the district’s general fund annually.
He proposed improving the district’s wireless networks and technology in classrooms with the other $700,000. He said the district could install SMART Boards — interactive whiteboards with projectors connected to computers — in classrooms and replace computers on a more frequent basis.
But Neal Smith, board member, said he didn’t see why the district should put more tax burden on residents right now.
“I’m a little confused about why we would borrow money and raise the tax rate just because we can,” Smith said. “To incur debt just simply because it’s easy to do for something like this just seems a little haywire in my mind.”
He said though the district would see increased use of the athletic fields and lower maintenance costs with them, the district has put back money in its capital projects fund for years to put turf on the fields.
http://newsandtribune.com/business/x864137783/To-turf-or-not-to-turf
