Financial follies...
Aug 16, 2012 | 572 views | 0 0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend | print
I am surprised and concerned to learn that the Grand County School District plans to spend nearly three-quarters of a million dollars on ill-advised and unnecessary changes to its soccer field area. While this might be good news for the Blanding construction company that was chosen to do the work, it is bad news for the rest of us.

Given the precarious financial situation the district is currently in, this is not the time to spend a shocking amount of money on projects that cannot possibly be perceived as a priority for the students of this district. The actual improvements would consist of an additional parking lot, and a small building containing restrooms and a concession stand. The current parking facilities are perfectly adequate, and while a restroom and concession stand for the soccer fields would be nice to have, they are not essential at this time and would benefit only a small fraction of the district’s students.

The district plans to pay part of the roughly $750,000 tab with $200,000 that it currently has left over in a now-defunct recreation fund. This money must be spent on a recreation project. Rather than using this money as an excuse to spend another unnecessary $550,000, why not divide this fund money between the elementary, middle and high schools for modest projects that would increase recreational opportunities in a real way for a large number of students?

Why didn’t the Grand County School Board see fit to involve the public in deciding what to do with the $200,000 already on-hand for student recreation needs?

This inessential soccer field area project seems wildly inappropriate and irresponsibly timed.

—Janet Miller

Moab
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