What does Mountain Home need?

 Is this really a hard question to answer or is there a lot of over thinking going on? Do we need another gym, exercise machines, daycare, or programs that are already here? If programs are in such dire need then why hasn't the WECRD offered any in 15 years? They've had a building and heaven knows they've had the tax money. Why don't they start a program tomorrow? School is starting up soon. How about ten laptops and internet for kids to do their homework on? Throw a printer in there for good measure. Maybe there's no one here that could run something like that for the WECRD? The high degree of difficulty in running a yoga program, bball,or an after school program can only be done by the Y. Maybe that's the reason they hire all their work done. What actual work do the directors do? They have secretaries and a Y helper person and get study's done and surveys and pay the Y to "consult" for 170k so far. Oh that's right they get to go eat steak dinners on us and get donuts, I mean "office supplies" from Pauls Market.The only reason they started updating their website since 2013 or their Facebook page since 2011 was because the citizens took up pitchforks and torches. What do they do?
 What does this community need? It's not a gym. It's not more exercise machines. It's not Yoga, or bball or programs we already have. What we lack is a big open space to do things in the winter. To walk, run, play sports, take the kids to the playground, have a concert, and a thousand other things. Run by a local person that is paid to integrate this facility into our community and fill actual needs. A highly multi-functional building so that when it's 10 degrees and blowing sideways there's a huge, open, heated, place that has different flooring systems of wood, turf, dirt, and industrial strength, where the whole taxpayer base of the WECRD can recreate. Not just the 700 members of the Y. We don't need a Y. We can do this ourselves, should do this ourselves. Why elect local people and then have all the input come from people that have no vested interest in this community? A percentage of the money that the WECRD gives the Y to run our facility goes back to the Y. If this really is about the community then shouldn't it really be about the community? $170,000 to tell us that we need stuff that we already have? Do we really need that or is that a cookie cutter Y plan that they use? At least the Y will get their cut of our tax money and more members. We get more of what we already have. Did anyone really think that we would ask the Y to come here and tell us what we need and they would say we don't need a Y?

Top 5 reasons Dissolving the WECRD Should be on the Ballot

1.  The WECRD has not met its obligation to provide recreation to this community in 15 years.  It has
collected nearly $5 million in tax dollars, made false promises numerous times regarding what could be built “debt free” for the amount they had available.  They are always “closer than ever”.

2.  The WECRD plans to build a facility with tax dollars that, they know from their Market Study, only 10% of the households surveyed plan to use.  This is a poor choice for the other 90% who get nothing out of their recreational tax dollars.

3.  Hiring the YMCA, a non-profit, to run a facility paid for with tax dollars that is in direct competition with many tax-paying local businesses is dead wrong.  No other Idaho Recreation District has formed this kind of alliance with the Y for a very good reason – it’s too costly, unfair to their businesses, and too limiting.

4.  Taxing us for 13 years and then asking us to also donate $850,000 to a Capital Campaign to begin this facility, when the project has not even been bid yet, is ludicrous.  The YMCA is a master at fund raising. They typically make up their budget shortfalls via donations so they have to know that the community will pony up more money as needed to support a local Y.  Taxes and fund raising will be endless.

5.  Our community is extremely fortunate to have an outstanding city Parks and Recreation Department that offers over 400 non-pool programs as well as over 300 pool programs annually as well as numerous non-profit sport and recreation programs.  We already have most of what we need at an affordable price.  The Y will want to offer many of these same programs in order to generate revenue they need.

Why you should sign the petition for the dissolution of the WECRD to be put on the ballot.

Broken Promise.

 The WECRD was formed with the promise of a pool. There will be no pool. It has taken 15 years for them to save around 4 million dollars. They say it costs 5 million to build a pool. The current plan is to build a gym with the all the money they have saved, plus money they can’t seem to raise, and to support it with the tax money they collect yearly. There will be no, “phase 2” or “in the future” because everything goes to build and maintain the building they want to build. The next promise they will break is that they are going to break ground this year.

“Closer than ever”.

 This is their battle cry and has been for the past 5 or 6 years. The problem with that is they can never quite get to the goal they have set. The WECRD spends over $100,000 dollars a year just to open the doors from 10-2 Tuesday through Thursday. They run no programs. They contribute nothing to any other entities programs. Why is it that in over 15 years there has been none of these programs we hear so much about? They rent a building that is huge. They could've had programs and daycare and computers and after school activities. If for nothing else just to see how they went. Pilot programs if you will.
 They opened their capitol campaign to raise money in November of 2014. The purpose of this campaign is, community buy in. To make sure the community really wants it, and of course the extra $850,000 they are trying to raise. To date they have pledges for $210,000 and have actually collected $40,000. Even if you spot them the, “checks in the mail”, $210,000 “raised” over the last 8 months, and that was the low hanging fruit, it would take them another 24 months to raise the $640,000 they are short of.

Inaccuracy.

 See Sustainability or “Blue” Paper. The WECRD is using a 5 year old study that based its numbers on 40% growth. These are very different times economically and it doesn’t seem prudent to use outdated, inaccurate numbers, to justify any project let alone one that uses our tax dollars.

The Project itself.

 20 acres purchased for $500,000 10 years ago and there isn’t a stitch of grass, a tree, a walking path, a community garden, or any ball fields. A gym with some exercise equipment and daycare is what they want to build. All of which we currently have. Once again based on a 5 year old survey, they have chosen to build the least popular option from that outdated and inaccurate survey. Not to mention that our two local gyms and daycares will lose customers to this facility. Why would we want to compete with any local business and lose any jobs to a tax payer funded and sustained building? It would be far wiser to not lose jobs by duplicating these services but to bring in things that we don’t have here already.

The Money.

By dissolving the District your taxes will go down as you will no longer be taxed for no reason and no recreation. The money, by law, goes to the county and the commissioners have to use it on recreation. The commissioners have stated that they would have forums so that the citizens can as a group or individually give their input on where the money should go.

Use.

The recreation center out at the base has been voted one of the nicest in the Air Force. 64% of the residents of the WECRD have access to it. What need would this building really fill?

Please sign the petition today.