Comments on: Katy, taxes, and the bond “thing” http://www.polimom.com/2006/09/08/katy-taxes-and-the-bond-thing/ I used to be in the middle, but they keep moving the line! Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:55:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 by: Polimom Says » A “yes” vote in Katy http://www.polimom.com/2006/09/08/katy-taxes-and-the-bond-thing/#comment-43477 Sun, 29 Oct 2006 15:46:52 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2006/09/08/katy-taxes-and-the-bond-thing/#comment-43477 [...] Related prior post here:  Katy, taxes, and the bond “thing” [...] […] Related prior post here:  Katy, taxes, and the bond “thing” […]

]]> by: Polimom http://www.polimom.com/2006/09/08/katy-taxes-and-the-bond-thing/#comment-34630 Fri, 08 Sep 2006 21:45:46 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2006/09/08/katy-taxes-and-the-bond-thing/#comment-34630 Smukke -- That does, in fact, seem to be some of the objection to this bond: that they're building Taj Mahals. Some of it is fueled by rumor, some by obfuscation, some by ignorance... and some seems to be based in fact. Like everything else these days, it's complex. However, objecting to a swimming pool at one high school, when the district offers swimming as part of its sports plan AND all the other high schools have natatoriums... doesn't work out. Comparing the cost of a school in... say... Klein ISD with the cost of one in KISD only flies if it's apples to apples... and from what I've seen, they're not. The most notable difference seems to come up in terms of how many students the school will accommodate. Katy has BIG schools. Could there be costs cut? No doubt there could; there always are -- but it's not anything like what the opposition is painting. Smukke –

That does, in fact, seem to be some of the objection to this bond: that they’re building Taj Mahals. Some of it is fueled by rumor, some by obfuscation, some by ignorance… and some seems to be based in fact.

Like everything else these days, it’s complex. However, objecting to a swimming pool at one high school, when the district offers swimming as part of its sports plan AND all the other high schools have natatoriums… doesn’t work out.

Comparing the cost of a school in… say… Klein ISD with the cost of one in KISD only flies if it’s apples to apples… and from what I’ve seen, they’re not. The most notable difference seems to come up in terms of how many students the school will accommodate. Katy has BIG schools.

Could there be costs cut? No doubt there could; there always are — but it’s not anything like what the opposition is painting.

]]> by: Smukke http://www.polimom.com/2006/09/08/katy-taxes-and-the-bond-thing/#comment-34597 Fri, 08 Sep 2006 20:15:43 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2006/09/08/katy-taxes-and-the-bond-thing/#comment-34597 I don't know about Katy, in particular, but I know that when I lived in small-town upstate NY and they had a plan to build a new high school, they asked for some godawful astounding amount of money to build some Taj Mahal, jewel in the crown of NY architecture and oh yeah we will let kids in there, too. Voters said, "How about just a plain old building, maybe a few bricks on the outside?" Unfortunately, it seems like people on public boards occasionally forget that they are spending real money. If we're already spending $3 million, what's another $200k for some architectural feature that makes the school 'pretty'? Well, it's real money. If you spent $300k on a house, you might balk at throwing another $20k on something to make the house look 'pretty.' Unless someone else was paying for it... I don’t know about Katy, in particular, but I know that when I lived in small-town upstate NY and they had a plan to build a new high school, they asked for some godawful astounding amount of money to build some Taj Mahal, jewel in the crown of NY architecture and oh yeah we will let kids in there, too. Voters said, “How about just a plain old building, maybe a few bricks on the outside?”

Unfortunately, it seems like people on public boards occasionally forget that they are spending real money. If we’re already spending $3 million, what’s another $200k for some architectural feature that makes the school ‘pretty’? Well, it’s real money. If you spent $300k on a house, you might balk at throwing another $20k on something to make the house look ‘pretty.’ Unless someone else was paying for it…

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