If public attention is being drawn to national politics and the presidential race, there is a group of local officials who are thrilled. They have plans for the contents of taxpayers’ wallets and they would prefer to fly under the radar. The less voters pay attention, the greater the chance they will be able to pass local school bonds, which raise property taxes. Voters need to be alert. If past general elections are any indication, we will be facing several hundred local school bonds and additional tax measures in November.

August 12, is the deadline for officials to approve local measures for the November ballot. Consultants — usually paid by firms that expect to do business with the school district once a new bond is approved — advise local education officials not to publicize the bond election to the entire community, but to target only their supporters. This means running a stealth campaign, communicating only with administrators, the local teachers union, the PTA, and parents who have children in school. Part of this strategy is waiting until the last possible minute to approve the new bond measure, giving potential opponents less time to organize and respond.

Once a bond measure is approved, critics may have no more than a week to submit an argument in opposition. And this time line is critical because the number one tool for defeating a bond measure is the argument against that will appear in the ballot pamphlet.

To read the entire column click here http://www.hjta.org/california-commentary/heads-up-taxpayers/

This entry was posted on Monday, August 1st, 2016 at 2:05 am and is filed under Blog Posts.