Greenwood voters reject millage increase

I believe was part of the message during this vote. And please don't try to come back with the lame arguement that this Greenwood vote wasn't about taxes.

Wow, now I know why they have consistantly elected Gomer and Guber to the city council of Greenwood and they fight like cats and dogs and are a laughing stock thoughout this region. They can't even decide where to get a drink of water.(I am sorry council members I know some of you are new and trying to turn it around).
I don't know where you get the idea that the Greenwood School District belongs to the CITY of Greenwood. It is the Greenwood PUBLIC School District of Sebastian County Arkansas. The district encompasses an area from the Oklahoma State line on the west,north to Hwy 22, East to the Logan County line, South to Dayton. A couple hundred square miles that The CITY of Greenwood makes up just a small part of.I believe that the residents of Rye Hill, Dayton, Washburn, pay just as much in taxes (or more in some cases) as the residents of Greenwood City proper,and have just as much right to the schools for their kids as the residents of Greenwood. I can tell that by the article by bigdipper that they are a real dip and really all they want to do is bash the Board and especially Dr. Johnson who has done an admirable job of trying to inform the public of the FACTS of this election which you apparately know nothing about. Many countless hours of debate, research, soul searching, meetings (both public and board)have been had. I can tell from your rant that you were at none of them. The BOARD asked for a millage increase 2 years ago to build a new school and due to economic conditions they understood when it failed. The economic part has not changed since then but the situation with the schools has. We are in dire distress for space at the elementary level. They are reorganizing the schools to help with this problem, but the district is still 38,000 square feet out of line with the State Education Department minimum. Hello portable buildings!!! Duh !! If the Department puts our district in physical distress, then we are forced to do what they want us to do as opposed to what WE want to do or worse case they could come in and force us to consolidate with Fort Smith,how are you going to like that?? The Board has seached and searched for property that would meet the need for a new school and the costs have been outrageous.The fastest growing area in the district is the northwest section. How do you justify putting a 5 year old on a bus at 6:30 in the morning for a 30-45 minute ride to a school in Greenwood when they live at Blackstone Ranch, Williamson Place, Riley Farms, Spring Mountain ect.. The Developers as you call them are the Fort Chaffee Public Trust which is an enity that is TRUSTED by the government to return this land to the PUBLIC domain. No TAXES have been collected on this property since the 1940's.This is FREE land that does not cost the district a DIME!! All of the NEW land of Chaffee Crossing that is in the Greenwood School District (not to be confused with the City of Greenwood or the City of Fort Smith)has now started generating tax revenue for the GREENWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT. All developement in this area will benefit the GREENWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT and no one else. Best guess is the land is worth $1,000,000 if not more.Yes a Developer has offered to pay for the utilities to the property to enhance the value of his developement BECAUSE IT IS IN THE GREENWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT!!! and this would have saved the district tens of thousands of dollars to run the utilities to this FREE Land. It would have been two blocks from a major interchange on the new I49. Massard will eventually come to Greenwood as a bypass and how smart would this school look then??? Call me a Futurist but 10 years from now this would look brilliant!! Now it looks like Gober and Gomer won again and in the future they will look back and say how could they have been so dumb.Why do we need to develope so far from Greenwood you ask??? Have you looked at the price of gas and diesel lately?? Buses don't run on water. Yeah lets pile all the schools up in one place in the center of Greenwood to keep them in the City of Greenwood and see how many hours it takes to drive thru town then. Anyone for bumper cars??? Yes the voters have had their say but because of the naysayers and the misinformed they have squandered an opportunity to elevate the Greenwood Public School District to an even high regard than we already enjoyed. We are the envy of the State and unfortunatly now we will be the laughing stock. Smart people will ask how could they turn down $12,000,000 dollars of almost free money(yes we have to pay the principle back I know, IN 30 FRIKIN YEARS) to use (2% for 30 years,wait a couple of years and you'll be praying for 5%) and $2,000,000 of FREE state money that doesn't have to be paid back.You want your schools close to work?? How many people work in Greenwood as opposed to those that work in Fort Smith?? Again DUH!! It would be 8.4 miles from the new school to the administration building front door. How far do you think it is from the farthest elementary school in Fort Smith to their Administration Building?? 8.6 FRIKIN MILES!!. If Greenwood doesn't want to grow, and remain the small town they all love that is fine and I understand but don't punish the rest of the district. Just be prepared to be gobbled up by Fort Smith like so many of the little towns around Dallas were and see what they think about it. Yes we had a special election but we had too!! No one knew until late in October that the Q Bonds ($12,000,000 we were approved for $18,000,000 but it was decided we only needed the $12,000,000 plus the FREE $2,000,000 state money to build the school)would be available and we had a deadline to get the milage approved to pay for them by March 30th. Again you didn't bother to check the facts and know the circumstances. Ask Terry Smith, Doctor Burgess any of the other fine folks who showed up for the meetings "OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FOR INPUT" that you didn't take the time to show up for.NEVER EVER WAS THE STATEMENT MADE THAT IT WOULD CONFUSE THE PUBLIC. Again you are spreading crap that just isn't true.
Well I have vented enough and nothing will change the outcome now.
I guess in a couple of years we will be forced by the State Board of Education to have a 6 mill increase and I will be paying $200 more a year in property taxes (than the $75.00 I would have paid with the failed millage I would have paid a couple of years ago)to pay for the new $20,000,000 dollar school on the $2.5 million dollar swamp land with the $1,000,000 dollar utilities that supply the great Greenwood water. My wife said she loves the 2 hour wait in traffic getting to the new school as it gives her time to put on her make up, do her hair and nails and the kids to do their homework before she goes to her new job in Fort Smith on the New Massard Bypass. How blind could the board and Dr. Johnson have been to not see what a great deal this was and why would they ever have had the forsight to not see that saving the GREENWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS back then could cost us so much more today. Gee, now who's the dipstick dip. Just the facts please!!

Is it typical for population growth to not also bring in enough new tax payers to accomodate itself?

If you want the voters of Greenwood to pass a millage increase to build a school just couple it with an upgrade to a sports facility and it will pass without a Nay vote!!

I would like to say, wake up school board and Kay Johnson. It is very apparent that Greenwood residents are not agreeing with your approach to a new elementary school. First of all, why are we catering to developers who are really only looking out for their pocket books by offering this land to Greenwood. Of course it will bring more buyers to this area, but why do we need to develop property so far from Greenwood? You need to consider properties in close proximity to our existing campuses. It is totally,if I may say NUTS to build almost in Fort Smith. And I beleive that the voters have expressed just that! Please understand that we know we need schools. It is just that we want our schools within reasonable distances from our homes and where we work. I would venture to say that if this millage was voted on with the school being located closer to what is already existing, it would have passed. Why are we even being tempted to go to Chaffee Crossing? Wake up and quit blaming the economy on your inability to discover what the people of Greenwood want and need. I know that it was said that a public meeting about this issue would only confuse everyone. I really think you just didn't want to here anything contrary to what you had already decided was best for us. If you want what is best for us, the people of Greenwood, give us a chance to voice our oppinions and concerns. Things like, what would the traffic be like if we build at Chaffee Crossing. Can you imagine what a turmoil that would be? We do remember what was said last failed election and that was "we don't have the money for a special election, we will just have to wait until the general election comes around. What do you call what we have just had? And yes I have heard your excuses for going ahead with a special election. Just don't tell us that you can't and then turn right around and do just the opposite. How much has been spent now trying to get what you want rather than what we really need? I pose these questions and make these statements to hopefully get you to realize you just can't have it your way all the time. I know it is a difficult job but I beleive that is the job you wanted. Please start to listen to us. Today many of us have spoken again!