Many questions on COD referendum

I have always been a big fan of the community education mission of the College of DuPage, but I will be voting “no” on their Nov. 2 referendum. I hope voters will consider carefully how money has been spent recently at COD, before opting to give more.

Asking why, for example, if there are holes in the Arts Center roof, COD opted for a $2 million project to install about 4,000 interior and exterior signs (see Daily Herald story, Sept. 9). Which cost figure does not include the legal and administrative costs spent to challenge the Village of Glen Ellyn over the placement of some of those signs? And if I had holes in my roof, I wouldn't spend money on a parking lot sprinkler system, as they chose to do.

The “plan” for spending the proposed referendum money seems to be vague at best. I have been unable to find any specific plan or real priorities. It seems to be basically a list of possible choices from the Master Plan. Actual priorities and expenditures will apparently be decided after the referendum passes.

The wording of the referendum itself is a list of options, adding the phrase “to include, but not be limited to.” It pretty much gives them the authority to spend that $168,000,000 however they want.

Consider also that COD recently had a registration campaign on campus, meaning that a lot of students, aged 18-21, very few of whom pay property taxes, will be voting.

Regardless of the PR-useful phrase “No-Tax-Rate-Increase,” the fact is if the referendum passes, we will each be giving them more real money, for the lifetime of those bonds, than we would if the vote is “no.”

Lucy Gaven

Lisle