While the Eldred Township supervisors, in a 2-1 vote, approved acquiring the Eldred Elementary School for $1 from the Pleasant Valley School District, some residents still remain skeptical about the purchase.

Bill Walters asked if the supervisors were willing to place a financial burden on the residents to accomplish their personal wishes and goals, agreeing that opportunity knocked on the door with acquiring the 5-plus acres to adjoin the township building."But keep in mind, the value of a commercial use of land is location, location, location," he said.He thinks the supervisors have no real knowledge of the ultimate financial impact, good or bad, on the township taxpayers. He questioned if the supervisors made any attempts to determine what state, federal and private grants might be available.He said Eldred has 2,910 residents. If the building needed $250,000 for improvements, that would cost $86 per resident. If taxes are raised for a specific project, "Mark my words, no municipal government ever removes those taxes once they have accomplished the need of raising them."He questioned the need for a senior center when seniors are already meeting at the firehouse, and wondered how important the ball field was in a township of 2,910 residents and how many children and youth are there to use it."We don't need to buy it based on the 'warm, fuzzy feelings.' ... Would you personally make the investment and borrow unknown amounts of money from your family, friends, neighbors and people you don't personally know to accomplish this unknown project?"Seven other residents said they agreed with supervisor vice Chairman Mary Ann Clausen's concerns in acquiring Eldred Elementary based on the sketchy facts they have and would like more time to come up with a business plan.Helen Mackes doesn't see a problem, saying there is all kinds of money out there that can be acquired by grants from the casino money to help offset the estimated $40,000 to $50,000 a year to maintain the building.Clausen asked the other two supervisors to show her the money in the budget where there is the $100,000 surplus they mentioned at the public meeting on June 22.There seemed to be some confusion as to where it was listed, but Supervisor Gretchen Gannon Pettit pointed to a line and said, "Well actually, it's $200,000 surplus."Desiree Jackal said that if they had that kind of excess money, they must be doing something right.Dale Weidman said, "I've heard about this $100,000 surplus, but let's look at what you've done to get that surplus." He said that the only reason they have it is because they're not using the money, like cutting back on the amount of oil and chipping to improve the roads."Your roads are falling apart," he said.Supervisor/secretary Sharon Solt said, "I beg to differ."