04/20/2024

Politics may defeat common sense on bonds

When governments seek permission to borrow money through bonds, telling voters how much and for how long taxes will be increased to repay those loans is just common sense.

In fact, the Legislature last year passed such a law, requiring bond measures or taxes proposed by local governments or school districts to state “the amount of money to be raised annually and duration of the tax to be levied.”

. . .Obernolte’s law had sparked much criticism from school officials. They said it was too difficult to obey, although another likely motive is that they feared voters would reject bonds if their full costs were revealed.

The critics have now persuaded Obernolte to introduce a new bill that exempts all local bond measures, including those of non-school agencies, from placing tax estimates in their ballot labels.

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