To the Editor:
I must take exception to Elaine Miller who states that “the image is that Oak Bluffs is holding the school project hostage because of an issue that should have been resolved a long time ago.” Somehow, she separates the two issues; that of building a high school and developing a compatible funding formula.
Well, I’m sorry, Ms. Miller, they are not two issues; they are inextricably linked. When every other district pays for its school, the payments are based on either one tax rate for all homeowners, or a formula based on the total value of the properties of each of the contributing towns.
Oak Bluffs is not the town standing in the way of the towns working collaboratively; the select board of Edgartown has simply refused to discuss the funding formula, despite our many attempts to seek a fairer distribution of costs.
What if only people with children in the school should pay for the costs of the school. Would that be fair? Of course not. Then why should the funding formula make someone owning a $2 million home in one town pay up to three times as much as someone in another town with a similar home? We’re all citizens of Dukes County. The high school benefits all the towns. Each homeowner has an obligation to help fund the school, but the obligations should be the same for all.
The unfairness is particularly galling when it comes to a project which is supposed to last for up to 50 years. The current formula is largely based on a snapshot of attendance taken at one point in time. As attendance fluctuates from year to year, why should that snapshot be the basis for dividing costs for a 50-year project?
Steve Auerbach
Oak Bluffs