Page 33 - Flathead Beacon // 10.22.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM OPINION CLOSING RANGE Dave Skinner
W Civic Duty
ELL, THE MISERY OF official whose constitutionally-mandat- Election 2014 will be over ed job title doesn’t describe the job.
OCTOBER 22, 2014 | 33
PLANNING FOR FUTURE GROWTH TODAY
Kalispell Public Schools District 5
Land Acquisition Proposition
Election Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2014
School District 5 seeks to inform our community with the facts regarding this proposition in order for voters to make
an informed decision.
Kalispell Public Schools District 5 is seeking voter approval to acquire an approximate 25 acre parcel south of town off of Airport Road, in exchange for an adjacent 25 acre parcel to be used for an elementary district school site. This parcel is adjacent to a fairly new neighborhood with a high population of school age children.
Kalispell Public Schools has the money to purchase this land with existing reserve funds. This proposition does not require any type of levy or additional tax dollars to be collected.
Why is additional land needed?
✓ Enrollment continues to grow. K-8 grade level enrollment growth increased by 541 students since 2004 which is approximately a 22% increase over 10 years.
✓ 15 – 25 acre parcels are becoming less available in and around the city of Kalispell.
What has S.D. 5 done in the past to address this growth?
✓ New classroom additions were built at Peterson and Edgerton Elementary Schools and occupied in the fall of 2013. These classrooms and the other Kalispell Elementary Schools reached capacity within a few months.
✓ Several of our elementary schools have gone to super-sized classrooms with two teachers in order to keep as many of our elementary students attending their neighborhood school.
What will this cost the school district?
✓ The total cost will not exceed the appraised value of the land which is $420,000.
How will this affect my taxes?
✓ No increase in taxes is needed to acquire this land.
Why is a land exchange necessary?
✓ The only way to keep the total cost at the $420,000 amount was to buy parcel B in exchange for parcel A.
District asking voters for permission
to buy Lot B and exchange it for Lot A, a 25-acre plot that could eventually become the site of a new elementary school and/or middle school
Kalispell City Airport
PARCEL A
PARCEL B
N
2000 ft.
soon. I’ll be glad when my land line stops ringing at supper time, and am looking forward to ignoring Vi- agra ads again. But it’s not quite over yet. There’s several ballot measures worth discussing:
911 DISPATCH FUNDING
First is a Flathead County referen- dumcallingtoauthorizea$25annual tax on every household and $50 for every business “unit” in Flathead County to support 911 dispatch center operations.
Now, how could 911 services possi- bly cost every household $25 per year? Well, just take a look at the police blotter. Given all the trivial and ridiculous calls made to the cops, perhaps the expense of 911 isn’t so amazing. Perhaps creat- ing a means of fining callers who insist on wasting police time and resources on stupid stuff would be a better approach.
So, while I’ll vote for the funding, I sincerely hope this money will put the center on a sound, long-term basis – meaning this better be the last funding call for the center.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 45 (CA-45)
Voters are being asked to approve changing the title of “state auditor” to that of “commissioner of securities and insurance.”
This constitutional referendum is little more than housekeeping. The is- sue is – Montana’s State Auditor really doesn’t directly audit anything. For ex- ample, Montana banks are audited by the Department of Administration, not the State Auditor. Instead, the state au- ditor is primarily in charge of regulat- ing Montana’s securities and insurance businesses – basically, the non-bank- ing financial sector. So, because the job title is wrong – AND in our state Con- stitution – fixing things requires fixing the Constitution.
The bill putting CA-45 before the voters initially passed 87-7 with seven Republicans opposed; in the Senate, was amended and passed 35-14 (with mostly Republican opposition but a few Dems sprinkled in), then the amend- ed bill sent back to the House where it got one nay vote.
The opposition follows the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” line of reasoning, plus there are stacks of office letterhead paper that will have to be thrown out – but then again, it’s kind of silly to have an elected
LEGISLATIVE REFERENDUM 126 (LR-126)
This one has more political soap opera behind it. In short, we’re vot- ing to move the voter-registration deadline from Election Day (which has been law since 2005) to 5 p.m. the preceding Friday.
Same-day registration (SB-302, sponsored by Jon Ellingson, D-Mis- soula) passed the 2005 Legislature by big bipartisan margins. On the surface, making voting easy seems a noble cause: Where is our electorate? Voter turnout stinks, shamefully so given how much blood has been spilled worldwide over the right to vote.
But the reality of same day registra- tion in Montana was less than prom- ised – long lines of late voters, espe- cially (and not coincidentally) in the college towns, and slow confirmation of election results.
In the 2013 Legislature, Ted Wash- burn (R-Bozeman) introduced House Bill 30. Washburn’s bill was voted through the Legislature by starkly par- ty-line vote margins, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. Gover- nor Bullock (D) vetoed the bill.
The partisanship isn’t a coincidence. It’s a fact that Republican voters are more consistent voters than Democrats – and same-day registration has helped Democrats squeeze a few wins.
Because Bullock’s veto was expect- ed, Senator Alan Olson (R-Roundup) floated SB-405, similar to Washburn’s, the difference being the issue would be “submitted to the qualified electors of Montana” and “effective upon approval by the electorate.” In short, a legisla- tive referendum, which is not subject to Governor Bullock’s veto. Again, SB-405 passed on sharply party-line votes.
Partisanship aside, however, it seems to me that voting should require enough forethought and effort for voters to take the process seriously – for at least threedays,anyway.
Waking up to one’s civic duty on Election Day afternoon (or, more likely, dragged off the dorm-room couch by a political “intern”) isn’t exactly the hall- mark of an informed, engaged elector.
Sure, these couch surfers might guess right – but at worst, they cancel the vote of those who DID vote carefully – I’d pre- fer they’d just stayed on the couch.
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on op- posite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
BYPASS
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