To the editor:

I found Mr Benson’s “Pay me now or pay me later” letter to the editor to be honest and sincere. However, I disagree with his information and his conclusion. The previous PI levy was allowed to expire when the initial (and contested) 9.9 mil levy passed by 1”lost” vote. The residents of this school district have already paid for PI costs to the extent that as of June 30, the school district has a positive balance of $19,641,090 in the bank.

The school’s choice to let the previous PI levy expire meant $350,000 in general operating funds had to be transferred to the PI fund annually and there was no increase in the amount transferred, even though the school district has not had less than $11,444,962 in the bank at the end of a school year since 2011.

The proposed PI levy is a five year, renewable levy that is expected to raise $1,383,628 each year — almost four times the annual amount previously or currently allocated to PI needs — and, since it is renewable, you know it will be on the ballot for renewal in five years.

It is not a question of “Pay me now or pay me later.” Rather, it is a question of why the school district needs additional money to take care of business they have neglected for numerous years when they have continuously maintained annual balances of many millions of dollars in the bank.

Information is knowledge and knowledge is power. If you control the information, you control the people.

John W. Wilt

Sidney