Source: www.CityBarbs.com. Read Sampling of Electric Bills, Old DHS and New for more information. (click on image)
I’m not a CPA but I’ve learned that hidden costs seem much more expensive when you’re broke. Take the taxpayers of DeKalb, for example. The Barb City’s very own 99%.
At the verge of a recession all knew was coming the near $30,000 median income taxpayers voted in super majority numbers to approve a $110 million referendum to construct two new schools. I voted for approval. Promises were made by people I thought we could trust and the need to upgrade facilities and technology was real.
One of the most important promises made to me was “up to $110 million” would be spent on school construction. If less could be spent it would be.
I’ve been told I’m gullible. But my quantity of effort to remind folks of promises made cannot be questioned.
I got myself on the Facilities Planning Committee despite being exposed to the cooties of Professor Corruptio Optimi Pessima, emeritus himself. So did Ivan Krpan. We tried to remind the group of promises made and to promote cost consciousness whenever possible. We tried to introduce things to consider like tilt up construction, value engineering, faulty enrollment projections and unrealistic goals for new construction EAV. I even used a visual aid to show the growing number of local names appearing in foreclosure notices. We got administrators and two of the larger referendum donors so worked up they pushed for a vote that might not have been legal.
Another area we asked for consideration of cost savings was utilities. The design of a building is critical to its energy efficiency. Krpan knew a lot more about that stuff than I. He’s built more than a few houses and likely designed quite a few more that he didn’t win the bid for. He kept pushing for the architects to provide operational costs and energy consumption projections. If that information was ever produced it wasn’t timely.
In these times when speaking politically correct requires such phrases as “build green” and “energy efficient” as part of any public project discussion operational costs and energy consumption should be included.
The last thing elected leaders want to hear in these times of growing deficits and shrinking rainy day funds is hidden costs. Especially those that are recurring. Those compete with things like payroll and taxes.
Demand ongoing operational costs and energy consumption projections on all future public construction projects.
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13 Comments
Sorry, even I must admit both my responses were directed to Herb’s comments.
Mac,
i’ve found that when I’ve asked Dr. Briscoe direct technical questions I’ve always gotten direct answers. I’d suggest removing some of the gratuitous sarcasm from your note and then sending it to the school district and asking for their comments. Even Lynn admits that she is not quite sure of the full meaning of the data she presented and I’d love to see their responses. At the very least I’d like to see figures (a) broken down by square footage costs and (b) have accounts given of the electrical use in the several high tech rooms with zapatrons and whatever that were added to the new high school and were absent from its predecessor.
Hindsight is so perfect. I often wonder what my life would have been like it I had continued to pursue software engineering in my late teens. On the other hand, what it would have been like if I had invested my savings in real estate and land as my friends in the local development community had advised.
As you are well aware we all make mistakes in the past, lack of investment in personal human capital being one of the major ones. While it is appropriate to try to learn from past mistakes — i.e. don’t trust those in real estate that claim housing investments ar safe — dwelling on past errors is not enough. What is needed are what to do in the future to solve the problems. Claiming “I was right” is not enough.
Herb
I didn’t observe most of the facility planning committee meetings. during the referendum campaign I got a promise from Dr. B (I believe) that you and ivan would be invited to join the various committees. i attended one or two sessions to make sure that promise had been kept and it was. During those sessions I did hear the architects respond to the plans suggested by you and Ivan, arguing against them. I had no way of judging who was right or who was wrong, but I did see that the plans of the we are always right duo did get a public airing and response. After verifying that the promises made to you and ivan about being part of the committee were kept i stopped attending meetings so cannot testify to what happened later on..
Herb,
Probably the greatest electric use is in the HVAC system, not “the several high tech rooms”. It takes a great deal of energy to compress, condition, and move air. The amount of air required to be moved is determined by each space volume and type of use. Overall, the volume of the new DHS is enormous (especially compared to old DHS), and a significant portion is (presently) unused or non-classroom space. You want to ask technical questions? A telling benchmark would be the total CUBIC (not square) foot of space per occupant ratio. Don’t forget to count ancillary spaces, common areas, hallways, gyms, theaters, etc. No question the new school is WAY “overbuilt” as compared to the old one. But of course it is beautiful.
Another quick benchmark will be to compare old/new DHS property insurance premiums.
At the end of the Financial Committee meeting the other night, I asked a philosophical question: Historically, why do tax levies always go up? (Conversation context was of EAVs going down causing tax rates to go up, assuming equal or higher levies.) This new high school is one example of why levies will always go up. We always want more, not less. And sometimes we make serious mistakes which extend us beyond our ability to pay. Yes, this is a sort of philosophical issue, more so for some than others. For some, it will result in financial destruction or at least calamity. That’s pretty easy to see now, across the globe as well as in District 428.
There are some sharp people on the new Financial & Facility Committee. I hope we are sharp enough to understand the problem and establish an effective remedy. That is the only hope until growth catches up with 428’s appetite. Not too different from all the world.
Kerry, when does the new committee meet?
Hi Lynn,
The new Finance/Facility Advisory Committee’s next meeting is November 16, 2011 @ 6:30pm. Location is the District 428 Administrative Center, 901 South Fourth Street, DeKalb, IL.
Last meeting there were a half dozen or so members of the public in attendance. It was good to see citizens in attendance. Hope that will continue! Copies of the agenda and reference material are to be made available to the public at the location just prior to the meeting. Much of the business office (financial) data is available online by visiting 428’s website at dist428.org.
Thanks Kerry.
I’ll sit in if I can, but I think the Housing Task Force meets that evening, too.
Herb, the more I think about it, it is not as you claim that “I’m right” all the time as much as it is about how the other side is wrong. You claim that we should figure out how t fix the problem. How about avoiding the damn trouble in the first place?
The school district’s own hand picked declared the first numbers used for the referendum were wrong by a big number yet the FPC and the schol board refused to even consider the new numbers. Foreclosures were growing and we were seeing more vacant properties. Developers and builders came to a stop in their industry. Unemployment numbers growing to previously unseen numbers. Troubles in the finance markets and property values plummeting. How big of a bat did someone have to use to get this through the FPC’s and school board’s head?
I have a written statement made by the school board president Mike Verbic basically stating he understood the problems listed above but he declared the winning vote a mandate by this community. I will agree, yes it was a mandate by voters who were fed lies, mistruths, scare tactics, and the lack of transparency as to the sponsors of Renew:DeKalb Schools and how they stood to benefit if the referendum were to pass.
How about the statement made by FPC member and also city alderman Ron Naylor Herb? A statement which basically said that he was tired of discussing matters any further, that many hours were put in by many FPC members and the committee knew what they wanted and then he proceeded to put the motion out for a high school with the core size of 3,000 and classroom capacity of 2,500. Pretty difficult to bring common sense and reasoning to a group with this kind of a sentiment. You Herb are way out of bounds in discussing what happened in these meetings since you were only at two and I had missed one from the passing of the referendum up to the start of construction of the new high school building.
You must have misread again Herb. Your frequency of senior moments are increasing to alarming numbers. It wasn’t people in real estate claiming investing in houses was safe. People in real estate were telling the FPC that growth, enrollment and new construction EAV projections promoted pre-referendum were unrealistic. But two of the largest campaign donors sided with some non-DeKalb resident administrators on such matters and a probable improper and maybe illegal vote was taken in favor of ignoring post referendum data provided by the demographer originally hired by 428 for pre-referendum growth, enrollment and new construction EAV projections. Those are facts in the archives made possible by bloggers to be used as tools to reduce the number of voters with short memories our corrupt government depends on to sustain its dirty status quo.
I do agree that claiming I was right is not enough. That wasn’t the point.
You must have missed my last sentence, advice for elected officials seeking to avoid delphi techniques designed to make them increase taxes:
Demand ongoing operational costs and energy consumption projections on all future public construction projects.
PS: you don’t have to tip me for my sarcasm.
@Kerry, I wish you and the new Financial & Facility Committee success in the challenges you have. I appreciate all of the F&FC members’ efforts on behalf of this community. While I’ll continue to remind voters and taxpayers not to forget and repeat the costly mistakes of the past I am optimistic for the new board and administration and District 428. Relative to energy consumption and cost savings: see http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/35512.pdf. Money in hand due to the $21 million grant might be leveraged for additional grant money to employ renewable energy to reduce net energy consumptions and costs.
I think it’s important to keep track of who gets it right and who doesn’t. It’s how you judge a person’s competence as well as a host of other characteristics that help you understand whom you can trust.
The “always right” duo did not get a proper public airing and response. As you very well know, the room was packed with board members, administrators and employees for the “airing” and “vote.” There were precious few disinterested residents present, and they voted with the “always right” duo.
I’d like Herb to prove with facts not HIS opinion how many times the “always right” duo have been wrong with their predictions and their analysis in the past 5 years.
Maybe just one time and that would have been for supporting the last school referendum.
Public airing? Surely you are joking with that comment Herb.
Was it a public airing due to your attendence in the spectator section? I believe Kay and Lynn were there with you.
Proper voting and discussion? I hardly think so. 5 school board members, superintendent of schools, recently hired construction liason for the school district, h.s. principal, jr. High principal, asst. Superintendent, outgoing chief grounds person, homeowner who received nice back room deal and compromise by school district for encroaching their “space” with the new high school, several pro referendum Renew:schools members and several other teachers on school district payroll.
Nice citizens committee and definitely a fair discussion Herb. If and that is a huge word here, if Mac and I had stacked the deck like this was for Ron Naylor’s motion for the huge school with ZERO common sense included, you would be doing and saying far worse then we are. We are being civil while trying to keep this fresh in everyone’s minds.
Sad thing for us younger tax payers getting stuck with all of the high and wasteful spending and building is that we will get stuck paying more and longer on these projects than you will. No wonder you don’t care what the price tag gets rung up to.
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Herb, Herb, Herb, going to a couple of FPC meetings really does not give you the right to critique Mac or my attempts to get the architects, administration, school board, or other FPC members to see the facts we kept trying to present. Their agenda was in place once the referendum was won and it go, go, go forward with everything they wanted.
Somebody please give Herb an extra pat or two on his back. Without his request, neither Mac or I would have been allowed to sit on the FPC committee, a citizen’s advisory committee.
Herb is always the first to say that it is done now, let it be now. Well Herb, that is the wrong way to think. It is important that the locals are reminded on how they were lied to, how under the table and behind closed doors back room deals are business as usual in ALL projects our government does for the bettermentof the community. We need to remind the locals to watch out and beware every time a project comes up. This was the case for the park district swimming pool and even more so now for the police station and library.
What the hell, let’s just keep raising taxes, fees, permits, fines, and impact fees. Oh yeah, by the way, how are those impact fees doing?