This was a popular catch phrase for a while and perhaps Ms Schweig should take it to heart. By her very own reasoning, the school board SHOULD be mindful of the taxpayer, realize the severity of the economic climate (even though it’s temporary Ms Schweig, it’s still devestating for many) , exhibit some fiduciary responsibility and suck it up themselves. You can tout the budget as the lowest in years percentage wise but the very size of the budget makes every percentage point translate into money than many can’t afford. Ask yourself, if it is temporary, why can’t the district keep the increase down to the 1.5% to 2.5% that so many districts have been able to do? Why? Because they don’t care. We are voting on the budget for one year, not all future budgets. When times are better they will get a larger increase, but in times that see homes in foreclosure at historically high rates, job losses not seen in 20 years, the loss of the STAR tax rebates (did you know about that?), a sewer tax increase of $700.00 per year, corruption that now has the District Attorney looking into the district. Not to mention the assessables. Everyone, from commentary on this site, to the finance commissioner of the city has reckognized the truth about the numbers. Now, suddenly, Mr O sees the light? The number for assessables was purposely kept low to minimize the perceived percentage increase of the budget. Look at the assessed value of your property. $20,000 assessed value gets you a $380.00 INCREASE to your current school tax. That may not be to bad , but what if it triples? You’ve lost the STAR, 700.00 to the sewer and nor another 1,000 on top of the school tax. I say enough is enough. You Can make a difference on May 19. Vote no, give them a chance to forgo their raises, renegotiate contracts, everyone wants to keep their jobs?, well, then give something back, look harder for adjustments, do all the things every other segment of our society has had to do to stay afloat. Let the state come in and start looking around and cleaning house. The sooner that happens, the better off all of us will be, especially the kids. Don’t be intimidated by their veiled threats about how bad it will be if that happens. These times are pretty bad for most of us and we have been “sucking it up” for quite a while. Send your message, vote, if you cant get there, use an absentee ballot or whatever other means to get your vote in. Get your friends to vote. Show them that you’re not willing to pay an extra $1,000.00 in taxes this year, then maybe Ms Schweig and the board can suck it up.
Polow must go – on the budget vote no !
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There is NO accountability
There is NO accountability in the process and they all like it that way. “Never ask a question you don’t want the answer to” is advice given to first year law students. “Answer only the question asked” is advice given to people under oath at trial. An example would be”do you know what time it is?”. The answer would be yes or no, not “it’s 2:30”. So, I imagine when John Quinn asks the finance commissioner at city hall a question about assessables it is something like “what is the percentage for the assessables this year?” Mr Ratner might answer -It is currently 1.4% STOP!. He wouldn’t be allowed to continue to finish his answer by elaborating on how it looks like that number might triple given what we’re seeing all around us. The board doesn’t want to know the full answer. That way, when the truth about the decline culminates in a doubling or tripling of our tax increase, the school board can say”we asked for the numbers from the city”. Ifind it hard to believe they asked Mr Ratner “where do you project that number to go this year”, because IF they did they would know what everyone else knows. The rate of decline WILL be higher than last year. The all-knowing board, who knows everything about everything somehow misses this small detail. So, you see, Mr Ratner answered the question, and the board can say they relied on the city for it’s projection and no one really lies. Convenient, yes, in the best interest of the taxpayer? You decide- AT THE VOTING BOOTH. We will be responsible for the accountability of those who were trusted with our money. Read Warren Gross’ comment titled “It is inconceivable that the” on this site and see what the state figures tell us about the slide in achievements. Look at everything and you’ll see there is only one choice at the booth. Send your message. I agree with the writer above remove the incumbants, give someone a chance, for a change.