The budget: relevance of the grand list and the rainy day fund
My understanding is due to several factors (use of the rainy day fund, state funding, etc.), for the budget to remain flat this year - in other words, no increase in spending - an additional $1.4 million dollars is needed.
Depending on the final mil rate, the increase in the grand list will likely cover about $275,000 of that increase:
But what source will the other $1.1 million shortfall?
Perhaps the legislature will increase municipal aid? I'm not holding my breath.
Maybe the rainy day fund (about $10 million) and the CRRA money (about $5 million) could cover it partly. It could mitigate the impact of budget cuts. But frankly, we've got massive long-term liabilities - underfunded pensions, other postretirement employment benefits (VEBA / OPEB - mostly medical costs related to the police), heart & hypertension, etc. And as of today, those costs probably near $40 million.
So those costs are well in excess of the rainy day fund and are entirely unrelated to capital projects, such as the sewer treatment plant or school building improvements.
I don't know what will happen with the budget, but my preference for use of the rainy day fund is geared more toward funding our long-term liabilities... rather than funding the annual operating budget.
Tim White
UPDATE: I forgot to mention... no increase in spending = 2% tax increase.
54 comments:
It seems like we are broke like every other town,state and the fed.
Other towns are having no increase in budgets and in some cases no increase in their education budgets. We are only better off because we a fund balance, most others do not. Here is a suggestion; the Public Works dept has planned overtime. Why and that needs to be eliminated right now.
How do you avoid an OT budget for snowplowing?
"How do you avoid an OT budget for snowplowing?"
Anon 7:52 would have it snow only during PWs regular working hours! ;-)
For 10:19 & 9:11 I said PLANNED overtime. Suggest you read and comprehend before a reply, otherwise I'll think your a graduate of the local school system.
The planned overtime is scheduled two weeks in advance for issues not related to snow.
The local/state/fed budget problems are long term in nature--could be 8-10 years, before some sense of normalcy is attained. Take lunps now adn hold onto the rainey day fund--Long term liabilitites as TW mentioned are a concern. TAke heed from what Wallingford is going through as a B/P for Cheshire; each school has its own mgt infrastructure/expense; tiem to conoslidtate.
DPW planned OT is a concern I ahve brought up to deaf ears.
I kinda caught that, but wasn't sure if you were referring to the existence of OT within the annual budget... or OT on a daily basis. Now I know you meant the latter.
But to your point, please help me find four more votes and we'll see what happens.
The Town and BOE should seriously review and use operational performance techniques to consider combining the Public Works staff with the school facilities staff and Park & Rec staff. There could be an overall operational savings in these three areas if combined. AT least the elected officials owe the residents a review of this. A small working group could be assembled with reps from each area including a few residents.
"UPDATE: I forgot to mention... no increase in spending = 2% tax increase."
Come on, no increase in spending NEVER really can equal a 2% tax hike in the eyes of tax payers. STOP playing with words, either spending by the remaining tax payers is increasing or it isn't.
If we face a 2% tax increase even though spending doesn't then how about we just make a 2% across the board cut in all town budgets starting with budgets for town employee salaries?
No doubt this town has at least 2% fat in its budget and it's time to shed some.
11:07 Very fair concern on your part. But as an illustration of my point:
Property taxes = $90 million
State taxes = $10 million
total taxes = $100 million
total budget (taxes & spending) = $100 million
Now say state funding for Cheshire is cut by $2 million (from $10m to $8m).
To keep a flat budget, property taxes would increase $2 million. And that would not cover stuff like contracted wage increases for unions, etc.
sorry... last comment was me. Not sure why my name didn't appear.
Tim, I don't know if you read the WRA article last Friday regarding the BOE meeting Thurs night. In it, the head of the teacher's union was quoted as saying the contract will not be opened for negotiations. If this is true, this is very disappointing and insane.
The cut of $650K represents about 13 teaching positions. If my math is correct, then another 27 positions (average savings of $50K per position) will need to be cut in order to bring the education budget to a zero percent increase next year.
Do you think it's even feasible to cut 40 teaching positions? This seems like an insane move on the part of the union...it doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone choose layoffs vs. a job and pay freeze for the next two years?
The TC and BOE has their work cut out for themselves and I have pity on them. Godspeed, you're going to need it.
Thanks. And hadn't seen it. I knew there were discussions though.
And to your point... yes... that's a big deal. A very big deal.
What's most upsetting to me about all this...
I see the headlines in the papers about the disappearing middle class. And I see that right here in Cheshire.
I know there are some people who would have no problem with a 5% tax increase... and some people who can't handle their current taxes.
To me that means any sort of middle ground is fast disappearing. And that's really upsetting to me.
They can re-open the contract anytime "BOTH" parties agree to it. The teachers union statewide is drawing a line in the sand. If one does others will have to follow. This is wrong. This will cause younger teachers to be laid off. It's always about the "money" and not what is good for the children and taxpayers.
After PW reorganization, the Highway Superintendent's job was changed from a salary position to hourly. So much could be saved by going back to salary. The amount of OT at time and a half and double time is staggering. Maybe if it were salaried he wouldn't be going in on Saturday to "fill out time cards."
Perhaps the Council should consider a complete review of all positions to determine if they are properly classified as exempt or non-exempt.
Is this a possibility with the BOE budget -
Reduce the budget by not paying the salary increases. Force them to take a pay freeze and tell the teachers that it's either take a pay freeze or there will have to be layoffs. The teachers will have a choice - agree to the pay freeze and save their fellow teachers jobs or have the teachers' union sue the town for not getting their pay increases knowing that if they do that, they're in effect handing pink slips to their fellow teachers.
The teacher's union is not cooperating and yes word has come down from Hartford to the unions that they should not give into concessions. There was another article in today's WRA about a school district losing arbitration. The arbitration process determined that the town could afford the increases. The name of town escapes me but we're in much better shape financially than the town mentioned in the article. The head of the union went so far as to say that the money the town council 'wasted' on arbitration could've paid for a swim team's season and then some and that the TC should've accepted the initial agreement. What a bunch of b.s.
Our teacher's union has their eyes on our rainy day fund and not on what's best for the teachers, students and taxpayers. Their appetites are apparently greater than their concern for the students.
There's no way the taxpayers of Cheshire should foot the bill for the union's selfishness.
"Now say state funding for Cheshire is cut by $2 million (from $10m to $8m).
To keep a flat budget, property taxes would increase $2 million. And that would not cover stuff like contracted wage increases for unions, etc."
Since we are living in CT let's concentrate on CT. Say our wonderful state government cuts our town budget by 2% through passing on less state tax revenue to us. After all, we are somewhat well off so we can afford it? A magical form of state taxation would occur.
What should we do? There are basically 2 choices here. The one which will be politically expedient to most local and state politicians, even many Republicans would be to just hike the already ridiculous level of town property taxes. And of course our local town bureaucrat managers will advise everyone to raise taxes to pay for their vested interest too. Some outside of the box thinking is needed at this time but it isn’t something most local bureaucrats seem capable of.
The second approach would recognize that current budget shortfalls are not going to be a one year in a hundred event. There appears to be no end in sight to annual shortfalls based on dwindling revenues at the state level for instance. So maybe the message is that from today forward we all need to be doing more with less or more likely less with less.
If revenue streams are shrinking by say 2% a year towns need to reduce their expenses by 2% a year. Since it would seem that unionized labor costs are at the heart of most local budgets it is really past time to have some meaningful staff reductions. No more of those sweet heart early buy-out retirement deals. Just annual 2%+ layoffs every year for the next 4 or 5 years.
It's never nice to have to send employees packing but in reality the time has come to reduce the head counts just to maintain the ridiculous mill rate. Towns like this can no longer continue to employ hundreds or even thousands of highly paid employees with top notch benefits and iron clad no cut union contracts.
The alternative is a simple but painful financial failure and maybe a 30 or 40 or 50 mil rate on property.
Florida here I come. A mill rate of 40 or 50? It could be true but I will be taking the high speed train down.
Did anyone catch the Boe budget meeting of 1-28 on channel 16? The majority of the parents that spoke only mentioned that they didn't want cuts to the music program. The final budget number isn't even determined yet.
Instead of talking about the music program or any other program, wouldn't it have been nice if they addressed their comments to the teachers asking them to "save our program" and "save their fellow teachers' jobs by foregoing their raises." Parents need to put pressure on the teachers instead of bowing down at their feet.
I watched the meeting and was surprised that not a single parent that spoke talked about saving curriculum. Actually, one person talked about how their kid couldn't satisy an AP level path for college admissions since an AP physics course wasn't offered at the high school. The rest of them only cared about the music program. They seemed perfectly OK with cutting programs other than music.
I got the impression that they were expecting cuts to curriculum but not to music. I suspect we'll even more parents show up to these now that they know budgets cuts are a necessity at this point.
If we take our "rainy day fund" and the money from the trash plant sale and pay off most of our debt the Town would have no money for the unions or arbitrators to pick on in negotiations. They never look at our debt. This process(BA) has got to be looked at by the State because it's causing the cities and towns to go broke. It's broken and the processs needs to be fixed.
Tim White said "To me that means any sort of middle ground is fast disappearing. And that's really upsetting to me."
Upset here too Tim and I agree with your sentiments. As bad as the 2010-2011 budget is we all know 2011-2012 is going to be worse.
I've not heard any official word, one way or another, regarding the status of the union discussions. I read the WRA article and was very disappointed. Hopefully, we'll get an update this week. I'll let you know if it gets discussed at Thursday's board meeting.
Can you post up the Mill Rate card that was passed out at the last TC budget committee meeting? It showed what the mill rate increases would be at various funding levels between the Town and BOE budgets. I think that's an important piece of information to have here.
Thanks,
- Tony
Maybe it's time to reconsider the 525,000 turf grant. If the boe could all agree that it would be put to better use funding education then maybe the TC could request that it be redirected.
I also wish the boe could invite some of the teachers to actually speak about the budget, their raises, and how they feel about seeing their fellow workers possibly being laid off all because they won't concede anything in their contract. That's what it really comes down to. Parents need to realize this too.
Maybe we should survey the parents and ask them the following:
Would you want the teachers to take a pay freeze or would you rather lose a school program?
10:35 pm here's some thoughts about teacher pay raises.
If continued employment of current unionized teachers will result in a significant increase in property taxes, it is time to lay off unionized employees. No questions asked, no more pretend negotiations, no more false promises and especially no more babbling like we had last year from the head of the town teachers union. Just lay them off.
It would balance the budget and it would send the right message. You know, if there isn't the money there isn't a job. As for the retaliatory cutting the school bureaucracy would try to institute, it is past time for some economies to descend upon the school system.
We have two more budgets to pass with this high wage increase or as so many call it "contractual obligations". This is not sustainable even if the economy gets better. A 15% increase in taxes is way out of line for the next three years. There is no growth in the grand list or peoples income to support this. As taxes increase property values will decrease no matter how great the town. Cheshire we have a problem and it must be fixed ASAP. We need to come back to reality and find a solution. We must cut some expenses or we will be placing our town as we know it in jepordy. Please attend budget meetings and let your voices be heard. We can do this if everybody sacrifices a little.
I have heard that the teachers and administrators made an offer to the town to save half a million dollars. Anyone know any details behind that?
"I have heard that the teachers and administrators made an offer to the town to save half a million dollars. Anyone know any details behind that?"
Furlough Days...The problem is that the teacher's unions wants to be repaid IN FULL for the furlough days in another year as well as keep the salary increases and job security. At least that's the what rumor mill says but perhaps our elected officials will comment on whether this is true or not.
You'll have to ask somebody besides me. I knew there were discussions. But the first I heard that there was no deal was from an anonymous commenter here.
About the extent of my involvement was to raise this with other Council members back in November. I figured we at least had to try.
Too bad it didn't go anywhere.
Furlough days is nothing new it's already used in other towns. Please look at something more meaningful.
The music program parents don't want their kids to lose their program, nor do other kids want their programs cut. What programs will be cut? Can town leaders address this question?
8:48 The town council only decides the bottom line number for the BOE.
Let me ask you this - Do you think the teachers should take a pay freeze or would you want your music or other programs cut?
My husband had to take 5 furlough days in '09 and will have to take more in '10. He's not getting paid for them later on...yet the teachers would expect repayment??
WTF
8:48 p.m. "What programs will be cut?"
It sounds as though you too have been programmed to parrot the stuff we are continuously bombarded with by the school administration. They have worked for years to be able to link job cuts with program reductions and eliminations.
Listening to teachers unions and school administrations results in believing that absolutely every waking second of every school employee has already been taken up by some important and meaningful activity. There is no ability to fit in any more and if an hour of any employees time is removed then something must be eliminated, or else.
The program which needs cutting is the guaranteed for life employment program provided by the BOE and the town. This particular program requires only a very minimal level of performance by tenured staff in order for them to maintain their high paying positions.
Of course some school employees are better than others but it has to be said that I for one have been amazed by the number of substitute days my kids have experienced over the years. Dedicated workers work, every day, every week, year after year. How many of us out there in the work a day world are calling in sick or unavailable a couple of times a month routinely while we were only required to put in 180 6 or 7 hours days to begin with?
There are ways to make significant budget cuts while maintaining necessary programs. On just a very basic level class sizes can be increased. Eliminating a quarter to a half of all the central office positions would save a few dollars too as would eliminating assistant principal positions.
Did anyone hear the man at the Boe meeting that said, "Are we willing to reduce the quality of education by not properly funding it? I urge the board to support the super's proposal..."
The bulk of the increase is for salaries & benefits. Is he saying that giving the teachers the raises & more benefits is what will keep the quality of education high?
Give me a break.
The super has said that Cheshire funding ranks in the 140 range out of 161 towns in the state. At what point do you think cuts will degrade the system? Tim, as a responsible leader, what are you willing to sacrifice? 17 fewer teachers this year means the town is spending less on staff. Yes, staff reduction will mean fewer courses at the high school, more study halls, larger class sizes, and fewer opportunities for students. What do you want for out kids?
"What do you want for out kids?"
How about a future where local, state, and federal taxes are not consuming 50% to 70% of our children's future earnings?
How about teachers who are not so greedy that they believe they are entitled to a 14% or 15% pay raise over 3 years when the state and national economy are suffering so badly?
How about cutting 25% of the non-class room positions funded by the BOE? What is really accomplished by those not actually teaching in a school setting anyway?
17 fewer teachers this year means the town is spending less on staff.
No, actually, the town is spending more on less staff. Florio's budget proposal calls for even more spending on the same staff without any additional benefit to the students.
Yes, staff reduction will mean fewer courses at the high school, more study halls, larger class sizes, and fewer opportunities for students. What do you want for out kids?
Prove it. Specifically, which classes will be come larger? Which opportunities will disappear from the students? Specifics please.
Non-core educational electives (jewelry plating) can be eliminated. Fencing can be eliminated. If everyone does their part and comes to the table willing to make small sacrifices and focus on the core educational offerings then we'll make out just fine.
The problem is that everyone in this town wants to have their cake and eat it too and that's just not going to happen in this economy.
I think the BOE and TC should look into an additional fees/taxes on families that have more than 1 child in the school system. It seems unfair that families with 3,4,5 children pay the same as families with only 1 child in the school system.
When you break down the per student spending it's obvious that large families are taking advantage of the taxpayers. It's reality.
Anonymous said...
The super has said that Cheshire funding ranks in the 140 range out of 161 towns in the state. At what point do you think cuts will degrade the system? Tim, as a responsible leader, what are you willing to sacrifice? 17 fewer teachers this year means the town is spending less on staff
It was 15 fewer positions. Regardless, it's incorrect to say we're spending less on staff. The majority of the increase in the 10/11 budget is for salaries & benefits. Those numbers are going up even though there's less staff.
What should we sacrafice? Simple. The teachers need to sacrafice their raises so that no programs will be effected.
"Prove it. Specifically, which classes will be come larger? Which opportunities will disappear from the students? Specifics please.
Non-core educational electives (jewelry plating) can be eliminated. Fencing can be eliminated. If everyone does their part and comes to the table willing to make small sacrifices and focus on the core educational offerings then we'll make out just fine."
I suggest you take a look at the HS program of studies before you make comments about programs to be cut and recognize that these classes you mention don't exist. If you have a student applying to college without a well rounded transcript containing courses from a variety of HS departments they simply can't compete with a student who does. Are you willing to handicap a great many of Cheshire's students this way? How would you feel if it was your kid being denied entry to the institution of thier choice due to the fact that our system can't provide the classes. Regardless of your own opinion of the various departments and courses the town offers its time to recognize that they do matter!
Secondly targeting the fencing team is ridiculous considering the HS doesn't have an approved team. Fencing that is P&R or Y team that you refer to. What needs to be cut if anything are freshman athletic teams (why do we need every freshman who wants to play football on a separate team?)and perhaps even middle school atheletics. The town has P&R programs these students can take advantage and pay for if they so choose.
I'm a product of these schools and it wasnt the quality of the building or the athletic programs that got me where I am today and gave me the opportunities I had. It was the teachers! If had 30 students in each of my classes I don't think I would have experienced the same successes that I have. If you think otherwise your insane. People need to remember the typical HS student is not your typical college student. They can't handle the same situations or the same size classes.
I also think its time this whole process gets changed. We need to move out of the 18th century and into the information age! It needs to be put forth before budget numbers are decided on by either boe or tc on what will be effected by a budget of a certain number. The Superitendent should be presenting case scenarios of what budgets of certain numbers mean in terms of programs and in terms of classrooms so tax payers and boe and tc memembers know the effects of their actions before they make decisions on whim and a promise. The fact that these bodies deal in mystery is ridiculous.
Its time for change in town government on all levels because the system is whats fundamentally broken. When you hire experts to make decisions and pay them large salaries whats the point of joe shmoe councilor hacking apart their work without fully knowing the ramifications of their actions.
5:48pm, you didn't answer 12:46's question.
"Prove it. Specifically, which classes will be come larger? Which opportunities will disappear from the students? Specifics please."
Do you have any specific facts to back up this statement or not? Emotional arguments will not work anymore, not in this economy.
6:06 thats my point! No body has these facts because people refuse to figure it out! The BOE last Thursday said they wouldn't talk about where the cuts were coming from because they don't know. Wouldn't it be nice to know before the decision is made? Without actual data about the effects of cuts, all these arguements and decisions are essentially emotional on the part of our representatives. If you want specifics thats something you need to demad from the BOE, TC, and Superintendent now and publically. I don't understand how people can make these decisions without a forecast of the effects of their actions supplied by the people we hired or elected to know. That's why I beleive this process is backwards. Specific programs and class sizes due need to be put up front by adminstrators.
Regarding some of the comments made about offering courses needed to get into college. Not all high school graduates attend college. There maybe many reasons for not attending and that's another subject. We are probably not providing an avenue for these students to excel in our school system. We have to provide balance. Many billionares DID NOT attend college etc.
Exactly! These leaders have accepted responsibility and should not say, "We have a two million dollar shortfall in revenue, so we will cut the recommendations of the super" without knowing what will be lost.
Look what happened at the last boe budget meeting. Some how the music parents thought their program was going to be cut so they all showed up and despite what the board said they insisted on talking about their program and how it shouldn't be cut.
If the board (and it's really the super who determines what stays and what goes)put any program up on the "block" all the meetings to follow would be swamped by parents of kids in that program. Nothing would be accomplished by an out pouring of parents pleading for their programs.
What these parents need to do is make actual suggestions on ways to possibly save money. But this aside, it should be clear this go around that it's really in the laps of the teachers. If they took a pay freeze probably none of this would even be discussed.
The Boe needs to make it clear that with wage freezes & give backs, nothing else would need to change.
The teachers always show up at the last TC meeting, when the budget is to be adopted, and cry "don't hurt the children". We'll they better start looking in the mirror. The only ones hurting the children are the teachers themselves. Teachers in bordering towns such as Plainville & Southington have agreed to a one year pay freeze. It's about time for our teachers to put up or shut up.
They also like to throw out increased class sizes as a result of budget reductions. That always brings the parents out to board meetings too.
Even with 15 fewer teaching positions this year, the class size at the elementary level is still very low. Don't let them kid you.
I'll chime in here where I can:
"That's why I beleive this process is backwards. Specific programs and class sizes due need to be put up front by adminstrators."
I do believe the process is bass-ackwards. There are many things wrong with the budget process. Not just on education side of things but townwide but I'll share my thoughts about the education budget process here.
For starters, I think the account review meetings were stale. Why? Because when reviewing the accounts only a partial piece of information was presented: Proposed Account Increase. What we need in those review sessions is the last 3 years of ACTUAL EXPENDITURES. Only then can we have meaningful dialogue. Reviewing a projected number, in and of itself, tells very little. I understand that adding this level of detail would prolong the meetings but I think it would make them more efficient and meaningful.
Second, the focus of the account review meetings seemed to gravitate toward defending proposed account amounts. Little, very little, discussion was had on scenarios. I would've like to have seen a Bad, Good, Better, Best scenario in this budget proposal. In other words, identify potential cuts ( or *gasp* increases ) in the budget using different scenarios and bringing those facts to the meetings so that it's clear (early on) what the ramifications(if any) would be on specific cuts and/or spending increases to the budget.
"The Superitendent should be presenting case scenarios of what budgets of certain numbers mean in terms of programs and in terms of classrooms so tax payers and boe and tc memembers know the effects of their actions before they make decisions on whim and a promise.
Agreed and the BOE should be requiring this. I would've like to have seen a scenario (for example, don't panic :-) ) of increasing class sizes throughout Grades x to x. An actual chart that would show the increased class sizes vs. current, staff reductions vs. current and cost savings. With additional information on what the positives/negatives would be...quantified where possible. That level of scrutiny doesn't happen (at least historically) until the TC sends back a budget number to the BOE. Throughout the review meetings I was on my calculator piecing these details together. That detail should be part of the budget proposal.
I like to use the cow path analogy in describing this process. A cow path leading to a watering hole has been worn into the field over the years. The cow path meanders around the field and eventually leads to the watering hole. Not the most direct route but it's easier for the cows to simply follow the beaten path. I feel like we're following a beaten path that needs serious optimization. Sorry, it's the best I can come up with at this hour. :-)
The Boe needs to make it clear that with wage freezes & give backs, nothing else would need to change.
I do think the strategy of wage freezes and give backs would certainly have a very positive impact on the budget.
"The BOE last Thursday said they wouldn't talk about where the cuts were coming from because they don't know.
Our chair, Gerry Brittingham, made the statement. However, in reality, we know where they would come from. Almost every member of the BOE (myself excluded) doesn't want to have that level of discussion yet until all of the facts are known. Some of the facts include the final number from the TC, outcome of union(s) dialogue, grand list, etc. We should be drafting these difficult scenarios/decisions now, not later based upon what we believe the various scenarios to be. At the very least, we should be more vocal about where we believe cuts can be made even if we don't want to have to make them. But that's my opinion.
I'd like to post more of my thoughts here but I'm going to bed. I welcome phone calls so please feel free to call to discuss these and other issues. 203-699-9828. Please don't call after 9pm.
Thanks,
Tony Perugini
Tony, you're not supposed to know the actuals!
A few years ago I spent at least 100 hours compiling those numbers. And then I sent this letter to the Herald:
BOE should do more
Then I was called at work and reprimanded that I wasn't being very collaborative... keep in mind, this was after I asked that crazy, crazy question "How many teachers do we have?"
You're not to ask questions!
But be grateful you're not on the town side. If you sat where I sit, then The Gated Castle would give the media the full court press about how mean and nasty you are.
I had to tolerate that for years. Then last fall we saw the unanimous 'no confidence' vote and suddenly it was a little more difficult for The Gated Castle to keep painting me as they did.
The nonsense gets old.
One major problem with our Town, the BOE budget is the parents. To start with many parents are whinners. They all have got on this bandwagon do not reduce our quality of education, yet none, will stand up and define what quality of education is.
In this place the definition is a distinct lack of minorities, plain and simple. As soon as 500 kids move in that are minority in nature these clowns will be running for the Litchfield Hills.
Asian kids are okay because they focus on their studies and do not create a disturbance socially. In fact they keep to themselves. Watch what will happen when large numbers of blacks, mexicans or puerto ricans move in. The fear of this town is property values will decrease and that alone will allow minorities to move in. When this happens and it will very shortly all of those school supporters will be selling their homes and moving.
All along the process to determine a budget has been wrong. Justification of increased expense base on validated past financial need and performance should eb the way to go. Crying wolf is the weak and chicken way out. These parents that show up to beg and plead for their "special" program because their child is in it are lower than a $2.00 street whore looking for drug money. If they were really serious about their conviction they would easily see the problem we have funding education and participate by helping the BOE and the Supt to create ways maintain and improve the education system in difficult financial times. When you show up to pleas your individual case you should stay home as you do not provide any value add and your wasting everyone's time.
When you hire experts to make decisions and pay them large salaries whats the point of joe shmoe councilor hacking apart their work without fully knowing the ramifications of their actions.
February 03, 2010 5:48 PM
All that education and you're a complete moron. So you're willing to pay an expert to run everying...no Joe Schmoe elected officials should question them? And somehow I'm supposed to think you are special because you have made a decent living and all credit goes to Greg Florio and company. What about mom and dad, your neighbors, etc. Go make some more money in Cuba. See where their education takes your family.
We hire the experts to help run the place. We retain some control by raising questions and making judgments. The experts brains occassionally get tested and we can justify their expert pay. If 80 percent of the budget pays for staff where do we come up with the revenue for all this technology. I've got an idea...online studies programs...can't do that it harms the teachers. The experts are too busy trying to cover the costs of personnel. We've made it too easy for the experts because we have yielded common sense to the experts and let elected leaders drift and coast us into a real mess and sadly bright stars like you have been cowed too...until someone decides you're expendable too.
cut all athletics and band and all other exrre curricular activities from budget. Make all extras pay to play. 50 members of a football team @ 250 each = 12500 per year. Why should all taxpayers fund the extras. Band parents pay the same, plus travel expenses for band, think of it as an investment in your childs future. Right? Make electives in class have extra costs, it's for their future. Cut one vice principal from CHS (do we need 3). I pay to send my children to private school, pay for books, pay for busing, pay for athletics... While paying my taxes here because it's best for my kids. I get ZERO tax break. The town BOE is a huge disappointment and waayyyyy over rated. Let the people who want more for their kids pay for more and we will see how important soccer, marching band, and drama are to them then
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