YOUR AD HERE »

Patrick Delaney: Vote ‘yes’ on 3D







The Hayden School District is asking voters to vote ‘yes’ on Hayden School District RE-1’s tax proposal 3D to purchase transportation vehicles. This mill levy request will increase our district’s current mill levy obligation of 29.28 mills by an additional 1.25 mills over a period of time not to exceed four years.

This mill levy will provide urgently needed funds to purchase four school buses and two smaller transportation vehicles to safely carry students to and from school and other school related activities.

School districts across Colorado are increasingly undergoing financial duress from a complicated series of funding restrictions within our state. Some statistics show that Colorado is underfunding schools by more than $830 million each year (learn more at http://www.greateducation.org/ and try out the “Mission Possible” balanced budget tool to better understand the fiscal challenges Colorado faces).



Our district has tried to resolve its ongoing financial needs from staffing to facilities to transportation without asking for help, yet it is now time for us to ask the community as a whole for support. A ‘yes’ vote on Referendum 3D means an estimated property tax increase of $12.50 on each $100,000 of actual property value for residences.

As a mountain community with weather extremes and challenging backroads and icy, snow-packed driving conditions it is paramount that our bus drivers are equipped with reliable, safe and dependable transportation. The average bus mileage on the Hayden fleet is over 176,000 miles with the lowest mileage bus (purchased over eight years ago in 2008) at almost 129,000 miles and the highest mileage at over 214,000 miles.



While the fleet is well maintained and serviced regularly, our average bus has been used over 18 years with our oldest bus running strong after 24 years. Take a look at the mileage and years on your own personal car — it’s time to ensure our kids are being transported with updated, dependable vehicles and begin to regularly update the fleet.

Help ensure safe, reliable transportation for our region’s children and support our boys and girls by voting ‘yes’ on 3D.

Sincerely,

Patrick Delaney

Hayden


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Steamboat and Routt County make the Steamboat Pilot & Today’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.