Betting on boom left town with huge bill

By Dale Kasler, Jim Wasserman and Phillip Reese SacBee

This is a great article and shows the greed and lengths people will go in order to live the “good life.” It also shows why you should NEVER vote for a school bond. Just K-12 accounts for 50% of the CA budget and then you have those ridiculous Mello Roos bonds on top of that, and these people have the guts to ask for MORE????? And voters are giving them more? What a waste! No wonder so many people moved out of this state and are starting to move out again. These “leaders” should have to pay these bonds back themselves. $190 MILLION in the hole? Are you kidding me? Who was asleep at the wheel while all this spending going on? So the taxpayers are going to be expected to pay for the housing bust and now they’re going to ask us to bail out these worthless government leaders who spent outlandish amounts of money “to keep up with Rocklin and Roseville.” You know what, if you want to be like Roseville and Rocklin so badly than move there! This spending would make the drunken sailors in Washington DC blush. I want answers!!!

“Article:”http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/593143.html

But unlike other communities, Lincoln has an additional bill to pay, and it’s a whopper: nearly $190 million in debt facing its tiny school district, the result of an ambitious construction program undermined by a housing market gone soft. The district, Western Placer Unified, has been forced to postpone additional schools, including an eagerly awaited high school to serve the families that flocked to the Twelve Bridges development.

The Marones have put their house up for sale, too, so they can move to a rural setting in Loomis. They’re braced for a loss: The house cost them $529,000, plus $130,000 on a backyard pond and other upgrades. They’ve listed it for $525,000.

Western Placer is deeply in debt. It owes nearly $190 million, including interest, through 2036. Cash reserves will be sufficient the next few years, but starting in 2011 it will face shortfalls of $3 million to $4 million a year through 2024, said Dominico, the consultant working with the district.

She said the district is mulling a plan to stretch out the debt to 2047. That will reduce each year’s payment enough to get Western Placer through the lean times. But it will cost about $70 million in extra interest over time, she said.

Western Placer spent its money on things like state-of-the-art science and computer labs, art facilities, even skylights.