Voters should reject the Oak Harbor School District’s proposed 2013 Maintenance and Operations Levy. That levy would literally double local property taxes presently being paid toward that single M&O levy and would raise property taxes overall by about 10 percent.

The OHSD’s existing and ongoing property tax bonds — paying for things like a new high school and stadium — are already programmed to increase local school property taxes by 4-5 percent annually, and even more so if property values drop more or stagnate for years.

An additional 10 percent plus up in local property taxes is unjustified.

A main reason our local teachers are so gung-ho about the proposed levy is that they have been promised a 39 percent increase in local supplemental pay if the levy passes, via more “TRI-days,” so they are literally campaigning for their own paychecks.

Via TRI-days, the teachers’ union already skims about $1.5 million annually into their own pockets from local discretionary revenues such as Federal Impact Aid and the local M&O school levy. TRI-Day dollars could pay for anything and everything that this giant unnecessary levy might.

Local teachers have threatened local business owners who spoke out against TRI-days and teachers are conning students in school about school revenues. Educate yourself and then vote “no.” The teachers are militant and the levy is a scam.

William Burnett
Oak Harbor