July 20, 2023, I attended a meeting of the Elizabethtown Borough Council to listen to a “Conditional Use Hearing,” for a project at the Elizabethtown Area High School. In the opinion of this writer, this presentation, and subsequent approval by Borough Council was nothing more than a “rubber stamp” of a fiscally irresponsible and unsustainable project that will only result in an increase in Property Taxes in the District and place extreme financial hardships on seniors and folks who live on a fixed income.
I have personally followed the Property Tax issue since 1992, and the mantra of organizations calling for the elimination of Property Taxes is that “Seniors should not be forced to lose their homes because they can’t pay their Property Tax.” Well that is exactly what is going to happen should this project go forward to its obvious conclusion.
In addition to the irresponsibility of this project, I fail to understand why a High School Athletic Program needs artificial turf on its fields when major college football teams and even the NFL do not use such a substance because of its serious injury potential. During the course of the proceeding, no one offered any explanation on this point, and it is one which must be addressed.
The residents/taxpayers of the Elizabethtown Area School District deserve an adequate explanation of all the ramifications of this project, but I doubt they are going to get one.
David J. Bowie, Elizabethtown
