HPISD Voters Narrowly Pass Bond Package
Voters in Highland Park ISD have narrowly approved the district’s $361.4 bond proposal, by far the largest in its history.
With all precincts reporting on Tuesday, the tally is 4,542 to 3,754 — or 54.75 percent in favor and 45.25 percent against.
Turnout was very high, both during early voting (4,814 votes) and on Tuesday (3,482). Of those who voted early, 62.42 percent approved, although more votes were cast in opposition than in favor on election day. Two of the 14 precincts had more “no” than “yes” votes.
The district’s most recent bond election in 2008 drew just 2,023 votes, but it was far less contentious. That $75.4 million referendum had 91.2 percent vote in favor.
You can read about the details of the bond proposal here, and we’ll have a more in-depth report shortly. Meanwhile, you can get results from statewide races and other election information here.
Could PCP please start an open thread on this passed (by 788 votes) $361M bond issue? Many readers have questions for the Board — if its trustees are willing to answer them. The Board’s website allowed for questions and comments to be submitted, but the Board never published these for the rest of the community to see and consider. Take, for example, this realtor’s and her seller’s dilemma, as well as the buyer’s.
Dear Board:
I’m a realtor trying to sell a house now served by Hyer, but the buyer is asking all sorts of questions I and my seller simply cannot answer. Please help.
a) Buyer wants to know for certain which elementary school will be permanently serving her house (she believes that if it’s Hyer vs. the 5th new school, that will be a selling point when she chooses to sell in the future);
b) Buyer wants to know if the elementary school now serving the house — Hyer — is first on the chopping block, and if not, the order;
c) Buyer wants to know how long her children will be conscripted to attend Cell Block 8 over at Northway while Hyer is bulldozed and built all over again (buyer is convinced this fifth elementary school will be stigmatized for years to come and reduce the property values of the houses it serves; she refuses to close on my seller’s house until she receives binding assurances the house will not be permanently served by the 5th school); and
d) Buyer wants to know how much her property taxes will go up, and for how long, in light of this bond, because the taxes will obviously affect the amount she offers for the house. HPISD will be taking on $461M in debt.
Since all of the projected tax increases were done by the Royal Bank of Canada, but the HPISD Board now claims (through its YES! PAC or its FAC) that RBC will never be the underwriter and the Board now admits it has no idea how this debt will be structured, the buyer is naturally skeptical of RBC’s estimates and essentially views them as a joke.
Kindly respond to these queries promptly, please. This house is — or at least, was — my seller’s primary savings vehicle. He and his wife planned to sell it to help pay for their retirement and some of their son’s college tuition. Now they feel the rug has been pulled out from under them and they are concerned they will have to sell it for much less than it would have brought just last selling season. You can surely appreciate that time is of the essence.
Hey seller, do you realize how much of your equity is going to be chewed up by the 6% realtors fee?
The fee is a much much larger % of your equity/life savings than you probably realize.
6% of gross sales price is the biggest rip off ever.
EOS