The Nebo School District is asking voters to approve a $160 million bond next Tuesday, June 23. We urge all Nebo voters to vote AGAINST this bond. Not only is the School District wasting money to hold the election, but they are also limiting the number of polling places. Finally, the school district is holding this special election when voters and taxpayers are least likely to participate. By refusing to hold this bond election in conjunction with a general election, the Nebo School District is manipulating the electoral process to ensure that a few special interests can dictate the outcome of a long-term tax and debt increase.

In the current recession, the Legislature did everything possible to preserve education funding. By holding the bond election this June, the Nebo School District is wasting at least $65,000. If they waited for the election until this November, when the county would run the election, it would have cost the district less than $10,000. Even worse, Nebo School District has eliminated 23 of 30 polling places for this election.

To make sure voters would be fully informed and participate in these bond elections, in 2004 we led the Legislature in passing S.B. 115. S.B. 115 required that these bond elections take place on the November general election, but we did allow for the June primary election date for extraordinary circumstances.

Frankly, we would have preferred to make the November general election the only option. Even hotly contested primary elections have much lower turnout than the average general election. And since odd-numbered years (when nonpartisan municipal elections are held) typically have no other elections, we were assured by cities and school districts that they would not abuse the primary election option.

Fast forward to today, and it's abundantly clear that the assurances made in 2004 are meaningless. With nothing else on the ballot, voter turnout will be very low, probably under 5 percent. The District knows they can convince district employees, teachers unions and other special interests to come to the polls, and that alone should pass the bond. Of course, these special interests will benefit the most from the bond, yet will bear only a slight fraction of the $160 million cost. Meanwhile, the taxpayers who will bear the overwhelming majority of the cost know little about the bond, and won't even show up to vote.

It's hard to imagine a more blatant violation of the assurances made in 2004. We can't stop Nebo School District from going forward with this bond, but we can and are encouraging every taxpayer in the Nebo School District to vote against the proposed bond. Moreover, we are already preparing a bill requiring all bond elections occur in November.

The Nebo School District claims they have to use the June election date, or they won't be able to start the projects on time. Assuming that's true, why didn't they hold this bond election last November? Like every other school district, the Nebo School District plans its bond elections years in advance. They could have easily held that election then, and there's no disadvantage to holding the election this November. It's awfully hard to avoid the conclusion that they want to avoid voter participation.

We are not opposed to Nebo School District bonding for additional schools. Not at all. Along with the Tooele, Alpine and Davis, Nebo School District is among the fastest growing districts in the state. They will undoubtedly need additional buildings to accom-modate this growth. But to impose a tax increase of $302 on the Nebo District's average home (worth $240,000) with virtually no voter input is wrong.

If voters reject this bond next Tuesday, the Nebo School District can still bring a modified version of this bond proposal to the voters in November. Then they'll have the benefit of full voter buy-in. Taxpayers deserve no less.

• Curt Bramble of Provo represents the 16th District in the Utah Senate; Howard Stephenson of Draper represents the 11th District in the Senate.