As a real estate agent I "sell" Duluth and surrounding communities every day. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a successful public school system to create strong property values and brisk real-estate sales.
One of the least-expensive investments anyone who owns a home can make is choosing to improve his or her public school system. A house within a strong public school system always will have a higher value than the same house in a neighborhood that does not. A good school system with safe buildings, current curriculum, smaller class sizes and enough qualified teachers to teach fosters a healthy community, an intangible value that contributes significantly to a property's market value.
For the owner of a $200,000 home, the cost to approve the second levy on the ballot Tuesday in Duluth is $60.48 a year (because the first levy will not raise property taxes at all). In Hermantown, it will be $380 a year. Both cost far less money than many home improvements the average owner may consider for "resale" value.
As it is, school facilities in Hermantown are crumbling, while in Duluth the levy support from the community is among the lowest in the state. What message does it send to anyone considering the purchase of a home if the citizens of these areas do not care enough to maintain a quality school system through reasonably priced referenda?
If it is not good enough to vote yes twice in Duluth in support of the levy or to vote to approve the referendum in Hermantown because you have a student who would directly benefit from it, vote to support these referenda because it will increase your own bottom line when you go to sell.
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Casey Knutson Carbert
Duluth
