Reader urges yes votes on Pentwater millage issues

Reader urges yes votes on Pentwater millage issues

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Dear Editor:

No one can escape death and taxes.  That includes taxes to pay off school bonds.  Every school district levies them.  Part of Pentwater Schools’ student body lives outside the Pentwater School District (PSD), but their parents and custodians pay off bond issues in those other school districts where they reside.  But this is offset by an equal number of students in homes where taxes are paid to the PSD, but who are enrolled in other school districts.

How many would stay in Pentwater if our school’s infrastructure was better?  If Pentwater no longer offered high school classes, some of our tax dollars would almost certainly follow those students to Hart or Mason County schools.  And if Pentwater Schools were shut down and students were sent elsewhere, those outlying school districts would gobble up our money to improve their schools.

Proposal 1 is a no-brainer as the school’s structure and so-called “track” really need attention.  Proposal 2 is also a new brainer.

A new gym with an enlarged fitness room and walking track would be available to tax paying adults during school hours because students would take classes in the current gym.  Think what PSD taxpayers would gain by having an indoor place on Park Street where we could socialize while walking, jogging, exercising, shooting hoops, and maybe even playing pickleball.  Drawing folks to town would boost customer traffic for local businesses wanting to stay open.

A more competitive school would attract young families whose breadwinners can now work remotely, and seek to raise their children in a community like ours.  But a neglected school just makes our dwellings more attractive as weekly rentals.  Some citizens enjoy seeing deserted winter streets and neighborhoods — but if you don’t, support public education in Pentwater.

Ron Beeber

Pentwater