Curmudgeon's Corner

Nice, no cap to end the excess of spending above the the revenue limit!! Way to go school board! You have no clue where the money will ever come from to run this new school that you want to build.

Our new village signs should read.....

Welcome to tax hell Germantown. It is wher the local government feels they have a blank check for spending!!!!!

The people in charge in this community are pathetic!

Hey GTT - maybe you should move to Illinois.  Our friends just informed us that they are selling their house for $450,000 because the taxes are just outrageous and still climbing:  how does over $11,000 hit you? That's .024 % so if you had a $300,000 house here in Germantown your taxes would be $7200.  Are they?  I know mine are not.  Gee, maybe this place isn't so bad after all.  The grass is always greener..................

GTT:

Why do you get so bent out of shape over simple questions and the School Board's interest in giving you the right to vote?  Let's try a different setting:  let's pretend that the football stadium is opened up and everyone in the school district is expected to show up and have a seat in the stands.  Now, the School Board chairman steps up to the microphone and says, "There's a motion on the floor to increase the tax levy 2%, from $24.5 million to $25.0 million.  All those in favor say "Aye", all those opposed say "Nay"."  What's so bad about that?

Is it your ability to cast a vote that you're so upset about, or the ability of your neighbors to cast their vote?  It's obviously only one or the other.  Please tell us.

I totally agree with GTT, and as I see it, they are not upset about the ability of anyone to vote, but upset about the items proposed on the referendum, as am I.  By the by, I've also never thought they argument that something or someone else is worse, or behaving worse, excuses anything. If my neighbor is being robbed, and has everything in his house taken, and I was robbed, but only my TV was taken, it really doesn't make the second robbery ok.

Using the example that we are better off than Illinois is pathetic.  The way things are going we are getting there.  

So, Lahria, you are upset about upgrading the technology infrastructure of six schools so that kids of all ages can learn in a 21st century learning environment using 21st century tools and increasing the likelihood that they are safe from intruders while doing so.  You are upset about building the first new elementary school in 52 years and the first new school of any kind in 40 years.  

You are upset about having your school tax lowered by 20%.

Sounds to me like you're the sort of person who is just looking to be upset about anything that is a change.

Jafo,

Children do not need 21st century to learn.  Show me a statistic that says you have to have a 21st century school to learn?  Harvard was around in the 19th century, are you saying that it is not conducive to learning?

Jafo, you sure assume a lot that isn't actually in people's posts, don't you?  Here's what I'm upset about:  I'm upset, first, that the district already voted no to the school referendum, but it's being pushed down our throats a second time.  I'm upset that we're being asked to let allow half a million dollars over revenue to be spent per year for an unlimited amount of time.  I'm upset that this so-called 20% tax break is being touted as a given, instead of the hypothetical it actually is.  I'm upset that the district cannot seem to grasp the difference between, 'want' and, 'need', and that rather than trimming costs where it could to secure both, (like the rest of responsible people do) they would rather we just give them some more money that frankly, most of us don't have, either.    

I looked at their detailed expenditure proposal. Have you?  If so, did you happen to notice things like ninety thousand dollars for a surveillance camera at the high school? How about half a million for a phone system?  They can't get a camera for less than 90K, or a phone system for less than half a million???  These are the kind of insane requests that irritate me, and I'm sure others.

Hopefully this clarifies what I'm upset about, for you.

LAHRIA

You talk about want & need maybe instead of looking at the detailed expenditure proposal you should spend some quality time visiting ALL the elementary schools & now is a good time because we have no security to speak of in any of those buildings. I know I sound like a broken record but all of these comments when we discuss the Schools and I never can count that many people at any of the board meetings???? Interesting!!!!!

I used to go to school board meetings - it is a waste of my time. They have already made up their minds on what they are going to do. The only thing they listen to is when I vote no on these idiot tax and spend proposals that are not needed.

Denny,

I won't even address your comments, as you have shown that you support any tax increase that is proposed without question!

Jafo,

Lahria pretty much covered everything that I would have said! I have no problem with them giving us another chance to vote ( if you remember the scool was already voted on in spring and was defeated) but I have a huge problem with the fact that this board wants the ability to exceed spending for an unlimited time! Do you really think that if that passes they will at some point stop exceeding the limit? If you do you are sadly mistaken! I also have a huge problem with the fact that this board is again asking for a tremendous amount of money to build a new school and has additionally added pork for more spending!!! Then the board president has the guts to try and convince us that our taxes will go down!!  Is he going to pay my portion when he is wrong? I don't think so! I don't base my home budget on theory's, and he shouldn't run the district that way either!

Jafo show me how my taxes will decrease by 20%! Where did you even pull that number from?

I also attended school board meetings, and still do,  as stated above-they already have thier minds made up. They just went through the motions.  

TTTM

Congradulations!!!!!! Someone's finally got it & I will explain to the rest. It is very simple: Go to your polling place on Nov.4th and vote YES or NO for the referendum on building and vote YES or NO on the increased spending. Have a great rest of the week and weekend!

Actually, I have looked at the details about the security portion, and apparently looked better than you did.  It's $90,000 for 18 interior cameras and 14 exterior cameras, installed and wired with power and data.  Just guessing that an exterior camera probably runs about 50% more than an internal camera, since it's weatherproof and has much longer wiring, that works out to around $2,000 a piece.  That doesn't seem out of line, since it also includes a DVR to record what the camera sees for later use by law enforcement.  And half a million dollars to replace the phone systems installed in the high school and the two largest and oldest elementary schools, with the same cables being used for data transmission and alarm systems is not out of line for the 510 telephones.  Considering that it's a retrofit in existing buildings and would have to be done through and around existing ceilings and walls, and knowing a little about construction costs, then $1.30 per square foot for a project done in 2010 seems cheap, to me.  Hopefully you don't think a telephone system for this sort of building is as simple as going to Best Buy, picking out 510 units, taking them back and screwing them into the wall and using the old, old telephone lines?

Jafo,

I am still waiting for you to show me how my school taxes are going to go down by 20%.

Your silence speaks volumes!!

The fact is you can't.

GTT - oh no...Denny Crane is not about supporting tax increases blindly.  However, a cool,level headed approach is required to analyze the issues using all available information not just what we choose to see.  Certainly calling our elected officials names  does not portray an educated, informed populace.  Perhaps those that engage in such activities may want to throw their hat in the ring for the next election to see if they can improve the situation. I would certainly encourage them to do so and lower our taxes in a time when everything around us is going up at record speeds.  Now that would be great.    

DENNY CRANE

In earlier blogs I have purposed the same thing to some of these people. I don't beleive they want to run because it's easier to sit back and pick an issue apart than analyzing all components of an issue and moving forward. I can assure you there will be no new hats in the ring. Have a great weekend!!!!!

Numo & Denny Crane,

Let me just say this to you, I grew up in a family with a father that was a city official for a local community for over 30 years, I know what is involved to be in such a position the time it take to really make a difference is staggering and takes a tremendous toll. Due to my job situation right now and the fact that I am very involved with the kids in this community through various sports that I coach, I do not have the additional time at this point to throw my hat in the ring. Years ago, my father asked me to run for office in his place I told him there was no way I was going to get involved in politics becausse of what I watched him go through, but after living in GTown for a few years, my thoughts about that are changing! So while at this time I am unable to run for office, who knows what the future will bring. But until that time, you can bet your last dollar I will question what goes on in this community! people should not blindly trust the people that are running a community and that is what you are asking.

GTT

I understand your reason's fully but let me just say I have and never will expect people to blindly trust any person in office, however I will ask that people try to get all the pertinent info they can to make a fair & honest judgement. By the way KUDOS to your father for his public service I know it is not easy.

Numo,

Thanks for the Kudos to my dad, I miss him dearly. At this point in my life being involved with my kids is much more important to me than running for office. Life is too short and they only stay young for so long.

Jafo, I have to admit coming to the forum with apparently inadequate information regarding the proposed security and other operating expenditures.  Can you perhaps educate me on where you located such a specifically detailed proposal, since the only one I have been able to find is obviously much more vague.  I ask this seriously, as I'd like to peruse it.

While your figures make much more sense, I do still have a couple of questions, maybe more...

First, what's wrong with the 36 cameras and accompanying monitors currently in place at the high school, or, for that matter, the phone system? Neither is that old...

Secondly, I often see public requests for bids on various projects advertised from other schools and institutions, but have yet to see one for this district, or any of our schools. If we publicly solicit such bids, where are these solicitations published?  If we do not, why not?  Even with the proposed school...did we solicit bids, or simply select an architecht/contractor (admittedly a good one)?  And are the security upgrades simply being done by them as well, or are we shopping for the best prices?  I hate to bring up the village's website again, but I feel the need to, since it illustrates one of my fears--that we are simply going 'the easiest' route to securing contractors for various projects.  With the website, the argument of why it had to cost so much to revamp was that we 'needed' to have it done by the people providing the already over-priced server.  We certainly did not 'need' to.  We just...did it. To the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. Ouch.

I ask, because, only for instance, yes, half a million for a phone system remains excessive to me, if we even need an entire new phone system, which I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around, since, as I said, the current one is not that old, and seems to function just fine.

If we are truly so concerned with security in our village, (and I'm not sure why we've adopted this attitude of fear, except that it's a great tool to emotionally manipulate parents into voting your way), wouldn't a half-million a year, for the unlimited amount of time proposed, be better spent by giving at least some of that to our police and fire departments, to KEEP us secure?  I find great irony in asking them to pare down their budgets, while asking for more and more cameras for security.  A camera never apprehended anybody. Real, live, people have to do that, and ours are operating on a shoestring.  IF you had simultaneous crisises at two schools, and even one bad traffic accident, or a fire, the way things currently are, they'd have to choose where to be, and THAT seems a far bigger security concern to me.