No on Measure E

Dear Editor,

Not many public agencies have the audacity to ask their constituents to triple tax themselves with three simultaneous tax measures.

First, Pleasanton Unified School District asked for a tax from 1988 until 2013 with Measure A and assurances they’d not come back to the taxpayers again until 2007. They said that Foothill High had “construction defects,” and had to be rebuilt. Why? Their district inspector had signed off on faulty construction, so claimed PUSD.

Then along came Tax No. 2, Measure B, another tax until 2020. Was $155 million dollars enough? No.

Meanwhile, PUSD has had the nerve to propose three additional tax measures in 1996, 2009 and now. And it began siphoning off $7 million from bond refundings for a district slush fund, without voter approval. The Attorney
General condemns this practice as unconstitutional.

Tax rates we actually pay exceed rates in the Measure B text. That means for us with an average house price, we’re already taxed by PUSD about $800 a year.
Recent PUSD reports indicate we’ll be paying existing taxes until 2024, with the bond principal still over a whopping $98 million.

It’s time to rein in spending at PUSD. Please vote No on Measure E.

Anne Fox