Not sure the 5-Man Electric Band envisioned what would happen some 50 years later in a little town like Mahomet, but the song is prophetic. You cannot look anywhere without seeing signs for school board candidates. So, what’s the big issue? On the surface, the candidates will tell you our schools are overcrowded and that Mahomet is in crisis. Historically, that means one answer. In the recent past (2018) when the same cry went out, Mahomet sold a perfectly good school building, Sangamon, that had been completely updated and remodeled in 1988 for the fire sale price of $650,000 (net) with the appraised value somewhere between $1.8M and $3.0 M. Looks like a lot of taxpayer dollars were left on the table. And the replacement “new” school building, Middletown Prairie, completed in 2018, is now deemed too small for its intended use?????
There is also a bit of a tangled web in the sale of Sangamon. Seems someone wanted to open a liquor store across the school in a new strip center. The school building was already problematic for liquor commercial operation. Coincidence or special interest?….You decide. Back to the signs…. Historically, Mahomet developers and realtors invest heavily on backing candidates for school board (smells, looks and feels like special interest) that will do their bidding by building new school buildings because it is important that “Mahomet” look good and attract more people who will buy houses and spur commercial development. When special interests reign, it usually means someone else pays the tab. That someone else is you – the taxpayer. Now most people would think that new development means new taxpayers. That is true, but each new taxpayer gets the advantage of all the nice infrastructure that is already in place and starts paying only for the new when they get their property tax bill. Ever hear of “impact fees?” Impact fees are a method of assessing a onetime fee that is used to help pay for infrastructure that is required by new development. Look it up. I have never heard that strategy spoken in Mahomet. That does not mean it has not been considered, but it most likely would make it harder to sell residential and commercial real estate.
Now most people do not understand another tax term – “Tax Incremental Finance Districts” or TIFs. Again, look it up. Once you understand TIFs, you will find it interesting how Mahomet misused TIF districts to promote commercial development, limiting any new tax revenue needed to build important infrastructure projects, which will affect taxpayers for a very long time. Oh yeah, who benefits?…..developers and realtors. See a pattern here? So, back to the signs.
You will see a preponderance of signs for three particular candidates running as a slate. Signs and postcards are expensive. Is it possible that there is a special interest behind those three candidates funding, supporting, and endorsing their run for school board. This connection is easy to see. The taxpayers have a choice to make and trust special interests or vote for independent candidates that will not cater to any special interest other than our children, teachers, and taxpayers. Please investigate all this. I think you will find that the school district has been seriously mismanaged benefiting special interests. We need a school board willing to look at all possible solutions to our problems who will come up with innovative ideas and answers to serve ALL interests of the office they are elected to.
And, the sign said, “You’ve got to have a membership card to get inside”….. The membership card says realtors and developers.
-Monte Cherry
