Taxes up everywhere except in Morrisville

From the BCCT this morning: Marlys Mihok, secretary of the Morrisville school board, stop the school member, and taxpayer advocate trumpeting the budgetary successes of the Emperor and the board of chosen accomplices.

There's two problems with this. The first is that a fresh set of eyes can find things to cut from any budget. It's the second year when things get harder to cut. Among the things that can still be cut are the sports programs, the band and chorus programs, any other extra curricular activities, and utilities. We can choose to fire half the teachers and staff, make the classroom size up to 45 students, and have Ferris Bueller's economics teacher providing the education. It's not the fact that cuts were made, it's where the cuts came from and what will be defunded. What is your focus?

When the state is investigating why we ran out of money early in 2009, we can point to this op-ed piece as one piece of the puzzle. "None of next year’s projections factored the amount of students graduating out of these programs and therefore, in my opinion we have grossly over budgeted in these areas." Of course not! Just in inflation alone, the costs have risen significantly. Still buying the same gallon of milk each week costs much more than it used to. It's the same with special ed, copier paper, and number 2 pencils. Only time will tell if "grossly over budgeted" is right or not. It's standard practice to budget conservatively using at least the same number as last year unless there is significant evidence to not do so. Paging the Auditor General: Your reservations are ready.

The second item is defeasement. The centerpiece of their election campaign is never even mentioned. That's where the cut in taxes really came from.

Instead of making the investments in a new building, we're plunging ahead recklessly without a plan and without receiving state reimbursement making piecemeal emergency renovations among two or three existing buildings. Add back in the millage from not investing in the future and what's the real savings? Every dollar spent today in any repairs, major or minor, "emergency" or routine, is wasted money in the sense that the repair is only temporary. It's a band-aid on failing infrastructure that will need complete replacement sooner than you realize.

Does anyone want to examine this article further and point out the fallacies?

It's not a windfall when you purposefully choose to ignore the needs of the future.

UPDATE 6:30 PM. Scroll down to the bottom of the post.

Taxes up everywhere except in Morrisville

As sure as fireworks on the fourth, Bucks County homeowners have received their school tax bills for the 2008-2009 school year. Every school board in the county has raised taxes for the next year, some significantly, with the exception of tiny Morrisville Borough. In fact, Morrisville School District taxes have plummeted. Let’s examine the phenomenon.

At the first regular meeting of the new school board, Business Administrator Reba Dunford presented the new board with a preliminary budget including a 21-mil increase equaling approximately $425 to the average assessed household of $20,000. State law allowed a 4.4 percent increase without going to referendum by the voters to increase that percentage. This budget was presented to the board as a bare bones, no frills estimate of expenditures for the next school year, on the heels of two consecutive years of outrageous tax increases.

Since that December meeting until June 25 when the final budget was approved, the majority members of the Morrisville School Board dropped the proposed 21-mil increase to zero and further reduced the budget by another 18.7 mils for a total reduction of 39.7 mils.

The administration has acknowledged that we did not disrupt any educational programs with the cuts; however, we are being unfairly criticized for not fully funding the increases requested for special education, charter schools, and alternative schools, although the business administrator is satisfied with the increase the board has provided. None of next year’s projections factored the amount of students graduating out of these programs and therefore, in my opinion we have grossly over budgeted in these areas.

After six months of diligent number crunching with the projected $21 million budget, board President Bill Hellmann found “extra expenditures” that we could eliminate without affecting educational programs in the district. Reducing 39.7 mils in my opinion cut deeply into a bloated budget. The school board did its fiduciary duty but has been relentlessly criticized by a vocal minority for not raising taxes.

Adding the first year of Homestead Rebate from gambling revenue is an additional $241 decrease as the proverbial cherry on top; $600 less is about what the average assessed homeowners have saved in Morrisville school taxes. [Moderator note: The BCCT claims a $218 Act I credit for a $539 decrease. To put it into perspective, that's $1.47 a day. A large coffee at 7-Eleven costs more. We're selling the future of the town for the price of a large coffee. ]

To unify the borough I have a proposal. Parents who are not happy with the extra money and are experiencing guilt about keeping their windfall can purge themselves of that money by donating it to the Morrisville Education Foundation, which will provide our district with additional educational tools not funded by the taxpayers. I suggest that the residents who are not satisfied with the new school board tax reductions donate it back to the district. Donations in the amount of your reduction may be sent to the Morrisville Education Foundation, 550 Palmer St., Morrisville, Pa. 19067. Tax deductions for donations will be less guilt ridden than the actual money itself.

Let’s get this foundation off to a wonderful start. Thank you in advance for your participation in funding the Morrisville Education Foundation.

MARLYS MIHOK
Resident of Morrisville for 25 years and member of the Morrisville School Board

UPDATE 6:30 PM

Great comment posted for this story at the BCCT website.

No Bob, the teachers union isn't the "vocal minority", it's citizens who have been critical of the methods used by the school board. I'll give you a few examples, which Mihok didn't mention in her article, because they don't make her or her compadres of the board members look too good:

1. The lion's share of the tax reduction is a "one shot deal" from the board "defeasing" (giving back to bondholders) $20+ million in bond money set aside for construction of a new, space-efficient K-12 campus. Defeasement reduced taxes this year only, but cost taxpayers about $2.5 million, a fact that was NOT shared with the public before the board voted on it;

2. The board is plowing ahead with replacing boilers based on a cursory $2,500 walk-through by an engineering company unilaterally hired by board president Bill Hellmann, whom Mihok staunchly supports. The board had to vote "after-the-fact" to authorize the work and pay the company because the work was already completed. The bidding for the boiler work did NOT follow procedures that would have resulted in reimbursement by the PA Dept. of Ed., so it will cost taxpayers additional money that could easily have been saved;

3. To date, I believe Mihok has kept the $250 stipend she receives as board secretary (something other board members almost always donate back to the district), yet she was unable to produce timely meeting minutes (one of her main responsibilities as secretary), resulting in the board hiring someone to take notes and write minutes;

4. Mihok was caught in a lie claiming that Superintendent Dr. Beth Yonson hadn’t notified the board about a deadline to pass a resolution capping the district’s budget increase to 4.4% when in fact she had informed the board – it was all caught on tape with reporters present. Those who are familiar with her know that that's just one instance in which she was CAUGHT lying;

It's simply assinine for Mihok to state that the criticism is for NOT raising taxes. Nobody wants their taxes to go up. But people do want school boards to make prudent decisions that balance both educational and financial concerns, not boards that make irresponsible decisions for short-term gain and long-term pain. We've got the latter in Morrisville right now.