Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility, a local non-partisan taxpayer advocacy organization, is celebrating another victory at the ballot box. Today Wyoming Public Schools again asked for a 0.5 mill property tax increase for a so-called sinking fund. This fund would have enabled Wyoming Public Schools to pay for building repairs and other capital expenses, without having to dip into operating funds.
The exact same issue was on the ballot in May of this year, and it was defeated by a vote of 58% to 42%. Wyoming Public School leaders believed that voters didn’t understand the tax issue in May and decided to try again only three months later. KCFFR did not oppose the tax increase in May.
KCFFR got involved in this election because such redundant and repetitive elections display a contempt for taxpayers on the part of elected leaders. This is the only issue that was on the ballot in Wyoming and this election cost taxpayers over $9,000 to administer.
“We have consistently fought to limit the number of tax issues that local governments can put on the ballot each year,” said Eric Larson, spokesman for KCFFR. He continued, “Wyoming Public Schools wasted more taxpayer money, hoping that voters wouldn’t show up to oppose the tax increase a second time because this was the only question on the ballot.”
The result today was 63% voting “no,” a higher percentage than in May. KCFFR reached out to over 2,000 voters in Wyoming to remind them to vote “no” and send a message that these sorts of wasteful elections need to stop.
