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Tempers flare during final school district bond forum

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By Emily Sorensen

Tempers flared at the third and final public forum held on Saturday to discuss the possibility of refinancing the Poway Unified School District’s controversial $1 billion capital appreciation bonds.

At least 100 members of the public gathered to share questions and concerns with district representatives. Several members of the school board were in attendance, but did not answer questions. Instead, Jeff Bell, from School Services of California, Inc., was at the forum to give the presentation and answer basic questions. The public comments from all three forums were recorded and will be presented to the board at the Monday, Oct. 13 school board meeting. \

Members of the audience shouted at the four members of the board in attendance, and at Bell, during the 90-minute morning meeting at Midland Elementary School. One public speaker, Michael Stillwell, said that the members of the board who voted for the CABs should be put in prison, while another speaker, Steve Gonzales, said that they should have resigned. “If I messed up that badly, my personal honor and integrity would have me riding off into the sunset,” said Gonzales. “The board members should be riding off into the sunset.”

Meeting attendees were asked to fill out a ballot that contained four choices for how to proceed with the proposal: do not go through with the proposal; put the proposal on the 2016 ballot and let the public vote; proceed with the refunding of 10 percent of the bonds, which is estimated to save the public about $46 million; and proceed with refunding 20 percent of the bonds, which is estimated to save the public about $93 million.

The proposal to buy back a percentage of the CABs and reissue them as current interest bonds (CIBs), which will be paid off immediately rather than in 20 to 40 years, was brought to the board in August by Dale Scott and Company, a San Francisco-based financial company who is also working with several other school districts in California that are dealing with CABs, including Stockton Unified School District and Jefferson Union High School District.

By reissuing some CABs as CIBs, taxpayers in the Special Facilities Improvement District could be saved from paying up to $100 million over the next 40 years, but would face an immediate tax increase of up to $14 per $100,000. PUSD residents living in Mello-Roos areas are not affected by the CABs or by this potential tax increase.

Board President Todd Gutschow said at a previous public CAB forum that the board will not take any action on the proposal prior to the November elections. Gutschow, along with board member Marc Davis, are both up for re-election, and are among eight candidates vying for the three open seats on the board, which include current board Vice President Penny Ranftle’s seat, who is not running for re-election. She did not attend the Saturday forum.

There were 26 speakers in total who came forward to share their thoughts and concerns, most of whom were not in favor of the proposal as it is now.

Several speakers questioned how the district will be able to pay for repairs and remodeling on schools when it will still be paying on the current remodeling for the next 40 years. “Things are already fading and falling apart,” said Carol Scott. “Are you going to come to us (for the money to repair the schools)? Where is the money going to come from in the future?”

Several other speakers called for more information and more transparency before they could make a decision. “It doesn’t feel like there is enough information,” said Jocelyn Scott. “There needs to be a more detailed presentation with more information.” Scott added that the public was being asked to make a huge decision with incomplete information.

“It feels like we need to do something (about the CABs),” said another speaker, Melinda Winship, “but there isn’t enough information.” Winship said her biggest concern about the proposal was how it would affect her home’s value.

John Riley, who is one of the eight candidates for a seat on the school board in the November election, said he was troubled by the consistent lack of transparency from the board on this issue. “There’s a lot of smart people in the district,” said Riley, who called the presentation “dumbed down” and said the public needed more information. “We need to open the books and bring people in to solve the problem.” Riley also said that the plan should go to a public vote because it involves a tax increase. “You can’t violate the trust of the public taxpayers,” said Riley.

The response was not totally against the proposal, as several speakers said it made sense to start paying off the bonds now. “We should be paying for the schools we have now,” said Robert Bowser. “It’s only a couple of dollars more a year ... it’s a couple of lattes a year.”

Another speaker, Pete Babich, said that while he believed the proposal should be delayed a few years, it should ultimately be done. “The buildings that we chose to build ought to be paid for by the time they need to be rebuilt,” said Babich. “Everyone comes to Poway for the schools, let’s not short-change them.”

The next regular school board meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13 at the district office, 15250 Avenue of Science in Carmel Mountain Ranch.

The presentation given at the CAB forums is available on the district’s website, as is the survey, at www.powayusd.com/board/CAB.shtml.

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