From the BCCT.
And so the renovations begin. The overarching renovations plan is STILL missing in action. It looks like we're going to piecemeal ourselves to death on uncoordinated fits of renovation spending.
The board members who make the political decisions won't comment on the record, so they send out Tim Lastician to take the slings and arrows instead. We're not sure when the renovations will be done...We hope it will be half done before September 2009.
This is all very reassuring...NOT! What will we do when the "Welcome Back, Students!" signs next September are accompanied by "Caution: Construction Zone" signs?
Channeling the departed Ed Frankenfield for a moment, we've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for a plan. The plan is probably out there, shrouded in secrecy and known but to only a few of the Emperor's most dedicated Kool-Aid cronies.
Why don't we want to upgrade our schools and welcome those with disabilities? Isn't it ironic that many of those taxpayers who most oppose making the schools a little more user friendly are among those who hobble most desperately up the steps to attend board meetings.
Paging Clara Peller: Where's the plan?
LOL: I don't think there's anyone back there, either.
Renovation plans moving forward
The parts and labor for the long-anticipated renovations are estimated to cost about $3.7 million plus another $400,000 in contract fees.
By MANASEE WAGH
Renovation plans at the 50-year-old Morrisville high school are swinging into gear.
The recent decision has come after years of wavering among previous and current board members about what to do with the district’s high school and two elementary schools.
Morrisville’s school board is working with Vitetta, a Philadelphia-based architectural and engineering corporation, to update old heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems at the Middle/Senior High School.
The project’s scope includes a range of new components, including ventilators for heating in classrooms, windows with better weatherproofing, expansion tanks for boilers, heating and ventilation units in the gym, locker rooms, auditorium and kitchen, gas-fired hot water heaters and parts for the air- conditioning units in the library and administrative offices.
Vitetta also will test the hot water supply and piping at the high school because it probably has corroded due to age, said the facilities manager, Tim Lastichen.
There have been no sizeable renovations to any of the district’s three schools in decades, Lastichen said.
Morrisville’s two elementary schools are also in need of similar repairs, and the school board is in talks with Vitetta to perform upgrades there.
Morrisville residents have been calling for a plan to improve the deteriorating school buildings since the current board canceled plans to build a consolidated K-12 school early this year.
Part of the original $30 million bond meant for the new school will be used instead for the renovations.
The company’s fees for overseeing the high school upgrades total about $400,000, and the cost of replacement parts and labor is expected to be around $3.7 million.
At the previous school board meeting, board member Robin Reithmeyer voted against the initiative to pursue these renovations because the district isn’t applying for state reimbursement.
Under certain circumstances, the state Department of Education can refund a school district a portion of construction project costs if the district follows the department’s approval process, called PlanCon.
Vitetta architects found the project does not meet state guidelines necessary for PlanCon approvals, said William Hellmann, board president.
Either renovation or construction is eligible for state reimbursement only under two criteria, according to the state Department of Education: adding capacity to the building, as in the case of a growing student population, or bringing the building up to modern American Disabilities Act standards.
Therefore, Morrisville’s renovations wouldn’t be eligible, according to the state.
“Believe me, if I could get money from the state, I would be the first to do it,” Hellmann said. “This work is for the health, safety and welfare of the children and teachers and needs to be done as soon as possible.”
Though a concrete timeline for completing the upgrades is not available yet, the district plans to dive in as soon as the school year is over in June. Hopefully, the work will be at least half finished before the summer ends, Lastichen said.
Originally built in 1925, the district’s two elementary schools, Grandview and M. R. Reiter, are much older than the high school.
Grandview’s front section was added to the original building in 1957 and its back section was added in 1968. Reiter needed to be renovated in the 1960s after catching fire.
“But nothing’s been touched since,” Lastichen said. “So it needs it.”
Monday, November 10, 2008
It's The Economy, Stupid!
From the BCCT.
That was James Carville's famous strategy in the Clinton campaign of 1992. I doubt there's anyone out there who is NOT concerned about the economy and the impact on the bottom line. "Today’s economy will affect the preparation of school budgets as far ahead as 2012 and 2013, he added." Perhaps so, but let's be a little more focused on the immediate: What's the state of revenues and expenditures in 2008-09?
Economy has schools concerned
A lag in tax collections and underperforming investments means schools might need to do more with less in the coming years or find support for a tax increase.
By THERESA HEGEL
Like the families that help to support them, school districts in the area have entered a period of belt tightening.
District business managers already dealing with drops in tax revenue and dwindling investment returns say the budget for the next school year likely will be difficult to prepare.
But most districts said administration and school boards were committed to keeping property tax millage increases at or under the 4.1 percent mandated by the state.
“The whole community is suffering,” said Pennridge Superintendent Robert Kish, noting that his district wasn’t interested in adding to the burden.
Real estate transfer taxes and interim real estate taxes — levied when properties are bought and sold or when improvements are made to an existing property — are, in many cases, down from last year’s levels.
“Homes aren’t selling,” said Robert Reichert, director of business affairs for Hatboro-Horsham School District. “People aren’t doing renovation work like they were.”
In terms of real estate transfer taxes, Pennridge received 81 percent of the level of revenue this July, August and September, when compared with last year’s intake in those months, said business administrator Bob Reinhart.
Last year’s transfer tax total of $1.6 million already represented a dip from years when the housing market was hot. Back in 2005-06, the district reaped $2.1 million from transfer taxes, he said.
So far this school year, the district is receiving 54 percent of the interim taxes it received last year, Reinhart said.
“If [the housing market slump] deepens, the issues are going to get worse than they are today,” he said.
Today’s economy will affect the preparation of school budgets as far ahead as 2012 and 2013, he added.
Bensalem School District built lower revenues into its budget, including a 30 percent decline in interim taxes and a 25 percent drop in transfer taxes.
“I’m pleased that we did take a conservative stance with respect to projected revenues,” said Jack Myers, Bensalem’s director of business operations.
By September, Bensalem had already collected $300,000 of its budgeted $1 million in transfer taxes, which Myers called a “pleasant surprise.”
Still, being on target is more a reflection of the district’s downward projections, and there are still eight months left in the fiscal year, he said.
“At this point, I’m not panicking, but I’m worried,” added Myers, who said he is constantly monitoring and “fine-tuning” the budget.
Central Bucks business manager Dave Matyas was also concerned about the 1 percent earned income tax going south if unemployment levels rise and workers don’t receive raises or bonuses because of the economy.
“Who knows where that’s going to go?” he wondered.
An unstable stock market and cuts in federal interest rates have taken their toll on districts’ coffers.
In its current budget, Bensalem assumed a 40 percent drop in interest returns for the year, Myers said.
Reichert said Hatboro-Horsham, which invests conservatively, has seen its returns cut almost in half from last year. “That’s having an effect,” he said. A deficit and subsequent spending freeze in Harrisburg also has district officials worried. Last month, state revenues fell to $565 million below expectations, and Gov. Ed Rendell outlined $311 million in spending cuts. As part of those cuts, the state Department of Education froze about one-half percent of its budget, said Leah Harris, department spokeswoman. Matyas and Reinhart both voiced concerns that the state’s budget woes would lead to lagging subsidy payments. “They’ve done it in the past,” Reinhart said. However, Harris dismissed the business managers’ concerns.
“The schedule of payment has not been affected as of right now,” she said. “We don’t anticipate that there will be a delay.”
In many ways, school districts’ financial strains mirror the situation at private-sector businesses across the state and country.
The difference is that public schools have fewer avenues for cutting expenses.
“We can’t reduce staff because our student population is not declining,” said Matyas of Central Bucks. “That’s the problem we have as a public entity.”
Instead, Hatboro-Horsham’s Reichert said, schools must become creative and “focus on doing more with less.”
For districts like Bensalem, that translates to delaying the replacement of furniture and equipment and implementing cost-effective energy strategies, such as the geothermal heating system installed at the newly renovated Snyder Middle School, Myers said.
That was James Carville's famous strategy in the Clinton campaign of 1992. I doubt there's anyone out there who is NOT concerned about the economy and the impact on the bottom line. "Today’s economy will affect the preparation of school budgets as far ahead as 2012 and 2013, he added." Perhaps so, but let's be a little more focused on the immediate: What's the state of revenues and expenditures in 2008-09?
Economy has schools concerned
A lag in tax collections and underperforming investments means schools might need to do more with less in the coming years or find support for a tax increase.
By THERESA HEGEL
Like the families that help to support them, school districts in the area have entered a period of belt tightening.
District business managers already dealing with drops in tax revenue and dwindling investment returns say the budget for the next school year likely will be difficult to prepare.
But most districts said administration and school boards were committed to keeping property tax millage increases at or under the 4.1 percent mandated by the state.
“The whole community is suffering,” said Pennridge Superintendent Robert Kish, noting that his district wasn’t interested in adding to the burden.
Real estate transfer taxes and interim real estate taxes — levied when properties are bought and sold or when improvements are made to an existing property — are, in many cases, down from last year’s levels.
“Homes aren’t selling,” said Robert Reichert, director of business affairs for Hatboro-Horsham School District. “People aren’t doing renovation work like they were.”
In terms of real estate transfer taxes, Pennridge received 81 percent of the level of revenue this July, August and September, when compared with last year’s intake in those months, said business administrator Bob Reinhart.
Last year’s transfer tax total of $1.6 million already represented a dip from years when the housing market was hot. Back in 2005-06, the district reaped $2.1 million from transfer taxes, he said.
So far this school year, the district is receiving 54 percent of the interim taxes it received last year, Reinhart said.
“If [the housing market slump] deepens, the issues are going to get worse than they are today,” he said.
Today’s economy will affect the preparation of school budgets as far ahead as 2012 and 2013, he added.
Bensalem School District built lower revenues into its budget, including a 30 percent decline in interim taxes and a 25 percent drop in transfer taxes.
“I’m pleased that we did take a conservative stance with respect to projected revenues,” said Jack Myers, Bensalem’s director of business operations.
By September, Bensalem had already collected $300,000 of its budgeted $1 million in transfer taxes, which Myers called a “pleasant surprise.”
Still, being on target is more a reflection of the district’s downward projections, and there are still eight months left in the fiscal year, he said.
“At this point, I’m not panicking, but I’m worried,” added Myers, who said he is constantly monitoring and “fine-tuning” the budget.
Central Bucks business manager Dave Matyas was also concerned about the 1 percent earned income tax going south if unemployment levels rise and workers don’t receive raises or bonuses because of the economy.
“Who knows where that’s going to go?” he wondered.
An unstable stock market and cuts in federal interest rates have taken their toll on districts’ coffers.
In its current budget, Bensalem assumed a 40 percent drop in interest returns for the year, Myers said.
Reichert said Hatboro-Horsham, which invests conservatively, has seen its returns cut almost in half from last year. “That’s having an effect,” he said. A deficit and subsequent spending freeze in Harrisburg also has district officials worried. Last month, state revenues fell to $565 million below expectations, and Gov. Ed Rendell outlined $311 million in spending cuts. As part of those cuts, the state Department of Education froze about one-half percent of its budget, said Leah Harris, department spokeswoman. Matyas and Reinhart both voiced concerns that the state’s budget woes would lead to lagging subsidy payments. “They’ve done it in the past,” Reinhart said. However, Harris dismissed the business managers’ concerns.
“The schedule of payment has not been affected as of right now,” she said. “We don’t anticipate that there will be a delay.”
In many ways, school districts’ financial strains mirror the situation at private-sector businesses across the state and country.
The difference is that public schools have fewer avenues for cutting expenses.
“We can’t reduce staff because our student population is not declining,” said Matyas of Central Bucks. “That’s the problem we have as a public entity.”
Instead, Hatboro-Horsham’s Reichert said, schools must become creative and “focus on doing more with less.”
For districts like Bensalem, that translates to delaying the replacement of furniture and equipment and implementing cost-effective energy strategies, such as the geothermal heating system installed at the newly renovated Snyder Middle School, Myers said.
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