cur-mud-geon:
anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Tom Kertscher on Thursday, June 28th was most refreshing. He discussed the potential for Germantown being able to remove itself from the Milwaukee Area Technical College District and being moved into the Moraine Park Technical College District. Moraine Park has a campus in West Bend and offers classes in Hartford…both in Washington County where we are located.
Trustee Al Vanderheiden said he has been looking into this change for some time and finally brought it forward on Tuesday when the General Government and Finance Committee met. That committee voted to pursue the change and is asking the Germantown School Board to participate in a petition that would be considered by the state board overseeing technical colleges. Residents of the Germantown School District paid $5.1 million to MATC in 2006-2007.
In addition to the fact that Germantown is part of Washington County which is served by the Moraine Park Technical College (MPTC) District, that District’s tax rate is significantly less than is the rate for the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) District.
Kertscher pointed out that the difference in tax rates would mean that a home assessed at $250,000 in Germantown would pay $442.50 in MATC property taxes versus $342.50 in MPTC property taxes. That is a savings of 23%. MATC has the third highest tax rate of the 16 technical college districts.
Students could still apply where they chose; some business group relationships could be impacted if those groups have working arrangements with MATC.
This movement has a long path ahead in that it must be approved by the state board and is so rare that the board is uncertain of the criteria that would be considered for such a move.
Kudos to Al Vanderheiden!
