The first thought I had when I woke up this morning was, "Isn't there any way I can vote in this referendum?" Southern Wells Community Schools have an operating fund referendum on the ballot today. If it passes it will affect property taxes in the school district.
Referendums can only be voted on by the registered voters in the voting districts involved. With a referendum affecting property taxes that means if you're a registered voter in the districts you get to vote, regardless if you own property in the districts or not. If you own property in the districts but don't live there, you can't register to vote in the districts. I fall in that second category, I own property within the Southern Wells school district but don't live there, so I can't vote.
Is it fair that the non-property owner can vote on a property tax issue? Not in my opinion. I can't see a solution that would be considered fair by everyone though.
What if only registered voters within the districts who own property can vote...still not fair to those who own property in the districts but don't live in the districts.
So maybe owners of property in the districts can vote regardless of where they live...still has problems. Then you'll have the owner of large acreage that's unhappy because the owner of a singe acre has the same vote as they do. How about a vote per acre...then the small acreage owner will complain that the large acreage owner has too much say.
No matter how you do it, it's not fair to someone.
I guess I'll just have to trust that no matter who does the voting, they'll keep the good of the kids in the Southern Wells school district at heart.
EDIT: I should add that who can vote in this referendum is determined by state law. As a News-Banner tweet just noted, it is not the Southern Wells school board that determines who votes.
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