Read the fine print in the sixteen pages of details at www.lopezislandschool.org, “proposed school wide renovations.”

• Do we really need to spend $71,075 to paint the water towers and adorn them with canopies and benches?

• Do we need to spend $484,153 for a new weight room?

• Do we need to spend $1,111,244 for an irrigation system for a football field that is used seldom?

• Do we need to spend $1,048,800 for a new kitchen?

The list of details and associated costs throughout the 16 pages is rife with items that have more to do with a wish list than to a safe, secure, and functional facility for 200-plus students.

We’ve recently increased our debt load with new fire equipment, funding for the transfer station, and possible increased commissioner’s costs. There will be other community needs in the future – keeping all of them in balance is essential.

Please take the time to read and consider the details and costs of the proposed bond issue. All the “projected savings” in interest rates by rushing the largest school bond issue ever may be lost in the lack of serious consideration of all items on the list of details.

Of the 16.5 million, 3.8 million will go to pay the “soft costs” – the remainder to actual construction.

This is a 64 percent increase in our school tax. Let’s return in November to vote yes on a bond issue that covers the necessary improvements at half the cost.

Bob Hall

Diane Robertson

Lopez Island