The Morning Report
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Though the San Diego County Taxpayers Association has yet to decide its stand, its staff has recommended that their board oppose the new facilities bond for San Diego Unified. School district staff is hoping to sway the association by pointing out the bond’s merits, and providing more information about the $2.1 billion proposal.
Taxpayers Association staff criticized the bond, recently named Proposition S, for a lack of clear priorities and “underpromising” taxpayers by not budgeting for state facilities money and redevelopment funds that could likely supplement the bond money. Staff were also worried by the district’s backlog of deferred maintenance, which they said wasn’t appropriately addressed under the last bond, Proposition MM.
San Diego Unified staff countered the complaints with this document, which responds to the concerns and provides new information that was not included in their application for the Taxpayers Association’s support. They noted that some information absent from their initial proposal, such as a bond issuance schedule, was not listed in the requirements for the Taxpayers Association endorsement, and argued that the school district kept its promise to fund repairs, and actually spent more on repairs than initially planned — but the money came from state funding rather than the general fund.
Furthermore, they pointed out that the school district recently approved a plan to eliminate the repair backlog that Taxpayers Association President Lani Lutar, a member of the oversight committee for Proposition MM, voted to approve.
The Taxpayers Association board is scheduled to vote on whether to endorse or oppose Proposition S on Friday.