IS IT TRUE that the Parks Board voted 3-2 to pass a $24 million bond measure that will raise your taxes? …that at the city council meeting Monday, city controller Robert Gunter estimated the tax cost $60 for a $100,000 property valuation for the first year and $30 for each subsequent year. …Vanderburgh County controller Brian Girth has told people that the tax difference will be higher for county residents? …that the parks board was not involved in the development of the parks bond? …that Parks and Recreation Director Danielle Crook presented the fully written park bond to the parks board in late September?
IS IT TRUE that we are still paying on $10 million in parks bonds that were passed two years ago? …that in the 2022 bond, $240,000 was allocated to improve Hartke and Helfrich pools and both of those pools are closed? …that in 2025 we will pay $1.8 million toward the 2022 debt?
IS IT TRUE that at the recent Parks Board meeting, one citizen commented that meeting at noon on Wednesdays, prohibits ordinary working people from attending and commenting? …that board president Michelle Peterlin makes every effort to keep the meeting under an hour to accommodate those who attend during their lunch hour? …that the beginning of the bond hearing was delayed for over 20 minutes due to technical issues?
IS IT TRUE that 20-year parks board veteran Jerome Stewart stunned the attendees of the Parks Board meeting when he methodically made a case for why the $24 million bond should be denied by the board? …he pointed out that after the giraffe barn was removed from the list of projects to fund, the total of the other projects added up to $9 million? …that $15 million dollars of the bond sits unappropriated? …that Stewart’s full comments can be heard on the video record of the meeting by clicking here? …that we wonder how sensible people could pass a bond issue without identifying how the funds will be spent?
IS IT TRUE that Parks Director Danielle Crook said the giraffe breeding barn is still needed? …that “still needed” is code for the “Longneck Hotel” will be built one way or another?
IS IT TRUE that, earlier in the week, the Evansville City Council voted unanimously to approve the $24 million parks bond? …that the only two officials to vote for good public policy and refuse to approve further debt and expense to the taxpayers were Michelle Peterlin and Jerome Stewart?
IS IT TRUE that it is time for the taxpayers of Vanderburgh County to keep a watchful eye on our government officials to get spending under control and promote “Good Public Policy?
