A lease in name only

Congratulations Wheaton-Warrenville District 200, you voted to build a new Jefferson preschool without raising taxes. But why is the district still planning to use a questionable "lease" structure to finance it? Their plan is a 20-year lease in name only that will cost us $6 million more than necessary.

District 200 should fund the work from operations, as it promised it can do, not funnel millions in excess interest payments to its consultants and out-of-state lenders - money that could be used to educate all children or maintain other buildings. Even if this reduces fund balances for a few years, the cost of any short-term borrowing (for a few months at a time) would be millions less than the cost of a 20-year mortgage (aka "lease") that's being proposed.

Jan Shaw

Wheaton