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Timing big in millage request success

I’m beginning to feel a little worried for Alpena Public Schools. I’m not concerned for the present, but a little concerned about the future.

Now let me preface this by saying the school is in a good place right now and there isn’t any upheaval. It has survived its deficit elimination plan and is back on solid ground, and there are plenty of things for the school and the community to get excited about. It’s purely speculative — but I hope for the best.

However … (Don’t you hate that word? There’s always a but somewhere, this one just happens to have a few more letters.)

The buildings are showing there age and APS is looking into the conditions of the facilities. During a property committee meeting last month, Superintendent John VanWagoner said many of the district’s buildings are beyond their life expectancy, and he warned that there will be a day when they will need to be refurbished or new ones built.

There are issues, like a boiler at Ella White, that need to be addressed. If the buildings don’t have structural issues, because of age they eventually will. That will take money, and we all know money doesn’t grow on trees.

“We have to take a serious look at them, we just have to,” he said. “If that boiler at Ella White goes that would cost $1.2 million and we don’t have enough money in the bank to pay for it.”

I’m not trying to get everyone up in arms, nor am I sounding an alarm. The buildings are not going to fall down on our school children. But a day is going to come when something needs to be done to buildings — plural.

That’s where I am beginning to feel a little worried about APS. Where does that money come from? Well, you have to know some of it likely would come from a millage request. And, as coincidence would have it, we are having a lot of them lately.

That is my concern with APS.

We just passed a millage for a new jail. We already know of four millage requests that have been approved for August Alpena Community College will have one, and there are the Older Persons millage, Youth and Recreation millage and Veterans millage. That’s this year, who knows what the future holds.

While none of them are overwhelming or carry a large price tag, every little bit adds up after a while. Eventually, though, millage requests take their toll.

And now back to APS.

Generally under prosperous times, millages are easier — not easy — to get passed than in less prosperous times. On top of that, there comes a time when millage fatigue sets in and voters just simply say no regardless the need.

As far as we know the school district isn’t yet prepared to seek a millage for facilities. However, this would seem like a good time to seek a millage if you’re are taking the economic times into consideration. No, I’m not advocating that, just stating an opinion.

But, with voters looking at four requests already on the ballot it would be touch and go for a fifth request even if Alpena had the best economy in the country. We’ve had discussions in the newsroom about whether or not any of the current requests might be a victim, and that’s four requests, not five.

Are we going to say no to seniors? Our veterans? Our education system? Our youth? The first Tuesday in August is going to be interesting.

As the son of a school superintendent, I saw my dad work his tail off to get millages passed in the 1970s — not a great time to try and get any kind of millage request passed. Yet his first year in Mancelona he and the rest of the administration, with lots of help from community members, got one passed after it having been defeated the year before. He then got millages passed for additions to buildings and new buildings. So it can be done in less prosperous times.

You can never count on when the economy is going to be strong or not, so it’s all a crapshoot when you seek a millage. Eventually that is going to happen at APS. If it does come down to seeking a millage, I hope for the students, staff and the community it doesn’t become a victim of a bad economy or millage fatigue.

Steve Murch can be reached via email at smurch@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5686. Follow Steve on Twitter @sm_alpenanews.

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