On May 10, this community will decide whether to approve a $143 million school bond. Its supporters say that a new high school is needed to draw more residents. Unfortunately, the bigger tax bills and higher rents will make life unaffordable for many who live here now. They’re struggling as it is, and the evidence suggests that things are about to get worse.
In a story last month, Fox Business noted how Ukraine and Russia are known as the breadbasket of Europe, and between them they account for a third of global wheat and barley exports. They also produce corn, and 75% of the world’s sunflower oil. Unfortunately, that breadbast will be a lot lighter this fall.
Due to Russia’s invasion, many Ukrainian farmers haven’t been able to plant this year. And even for those who have, there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to bring their crops to market. While Russian farmers are planting, it’s not clear if they’ll be able to sell what they grow: as Bloomberg reported on April 5, there is now mounting pressure to sanction the country’s agricultural products.
Now you might be thinking, “Hey, we’re Americans–we grow our own food.” Well, that’s tough to do without fertilizer, something which just got significantly more expensive. Modern fertilizers typically contain three elements: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Potassium is usually derived from something called potash; unfortunately, Russia and Belarus are the world’s number two and three potash producers. As of this month, Russia is no longer exporting potash, while potash from Belarus is about to be hit with steep U.S. tariffs next month.
Nitrogen usually comes in the form of ammonia, something that requires natural gas to manufacture. Low and behold, Russia is the world’s second largest natural gas producer. We could mitigate rising natural gas prices by aggressively upping domestic production, but the Biden administration isn’t interested.
So what does all of this mean? Well, even Joe Biden acknowledged last month that “real” food shortages are a possibility. In other words, we’ll be paying a lot more to buy groceries. That’s on top of the extra we’ll be shelling out to fill our gas tanks and heat our homes. Then there’s the fact that interest rates are up and expected to rise.
This is going to impact everyone, but it’ll be hardest on those who are just scraping by. These are often the elderly, single parents, and families with low incomes. Forcing them to pay more in property taxes or higher rent along with a half cent sales tax could literally force some out of their homes. Even if you think it’s reasonable to burden them with more costs, now isn’t the time to do it.
Instead of “growing Hays,” passing this bond will push out the vulnerable, including many of our elders who have nowhere else to go. We need to show up on May 10 and keep that from happening.
Adam Peters, Hays