Are voters to blame?

The county auditor has issued his report on the 2009 triennial update of property values across the county. The news is not good for the village or the school district.

Total tax valuation fell 8 percent in the village and about 6 percent in the school district. This translates into lost real estate tax revenue of almost $24,000 for the village and more than $46,000 for the school district.

These percentages are on the high end of diminished values across the county. Certainly the foreclosure crisis has had an impact, but we wonder if other factors could be at work.

In the three years covered in the triennial update, voters have three times rejected a bond issue to improve the schools. Schools are a primary draw for families looking to locate in an area.

The Wellington schools do a good job of educating our children with the resources they have. But the board of education has been forced to devote more of its time to explaining the need for bond issues to put up the school district's share of the cost for improving the schools.

Rather than touting the benefits of a Wellington education, the school board has been telling the voters the students risk falling behind the students of other districts. This is hardly an incentive for young families to move into the district.

The last vote on the bond issue came just days before the auditor released his report, but the data was collected during the time this negative message was being trumpeted.

We don't blame the school district for saying what needed to be said. But we do fault the voters for making them say it more than once, so potential home-buyers got the message.

On the bright side, the lower property values will mean each mill on the tax duplicate will cost a property owner less. On the other hand, the schools will have to ask for more millage in May to maintain the buildings we have and hope the students don't slide any further behind.