Tuesday, the 6 th of March, voters will either approve or reject a proposal to fund a little over 7 millions dollars of the cost of a proposed 900 seat auditorium atMariettaHigh School, through a bond referendum. The other 2 million is to come from the school board’s building fund. Regardless of what you call it, it is still taxpayer money. The plan is to pay off the fund with monies from SPLOSTIV. The big problem is that, based on current sentiment and public disgust over perceived waste in the handling of SPLOST funds, it is highly likely that there will be no SPLOSTIV.  In such a case, the backup plan is a millage increase. 

Two underlying issues should be kept in mind. Though memories are vague as to why,  most voters know that the “new” Marietta High School”, started with a budget of 35 million, with the final tab being 57 million, due to cost overruns and redesigns to accommodate various “ginger bread” items, including blue brick on the front of the building, at a “robber baron” cost.  Somewhere in all that, it was decided that certain items, primarily those not sports related, would be cut or delayed. Now the whining starts for those “non sports related” items that got cut.

The 9 million dollar total price tag is already being projected to reach 11.2 million and the project has not begun. Does anyone believe it will be contained at 9 million?  Has anyone questioned whether the 9 million is a complete, operational turnkey price, or will there still have to be curtains, seats, lighting, rigging, etc purchased, on top of the 9 million?  Has the project been budget priced by construction companies, or is the 9 million an architect’s guess?

I am not a resident of the city ofMarietta, and cannot vote on this issue, but there are things which some people tend to forget when overcome with a driving compulsion to get what they want. Someone needs to be sure all the questions have been asked and answered.