Fountain Hills School District is planning yet another bond measure for the 2023 ballot. But there’s a problem. Voters require honesty, transparency and accountability and, as a result, overwhelmingly voted no on the recent school bond measure.

Voters are asking for a plan for raising enrollment and a plan for fiscal responsibility. Action plans or goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based. I quote the following from an edited Forbes magazine article dated March 26, 2019 by Mike McShane.

“Like many terms in politics, putting ‘no tax increase’ in front of ‘bonds’ is supposed to blunt the opposition to new taxes. But let’s be clear, there is no special category of bonds that school districts issue that doesn’t increase your taxes.

“How? School districts regularly issue bonds to finance capital improvements like building new buildings or renovating existing infrastructure. Taxpayers pay off those bonds over time, usually via an increase in their property taxes. Bonds are issued for a specific period. Enter no tax bonds. When a school district finds itself on the tail end of a bond payoff period, it realizes that it can borrow more money without taxpayers paying more than they currently are.

“They simply tack more bonds on and add more years of payment. Everyone’s taxes stay the same and the school district gets more money. But do you see the problem? No tax increase bonds actually do increase your taxes. If the district didn’t issue new bonds after paying off the existing ones, your tax bill would go down. But it doesn’t. That is a tax increase.”

McShane concludes by stating that there are major concerns with this strategy. It is not honest, thwarts oversight, transparency and accountability. Voters want an action plan. Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based; in other words, S.M.A.R.T.