From the BCCT.
Schoolhouse: 100 years old
Vacant: 20 years
Possible messsage: “We are watching you”
Schoolhouse going up for sale
By DANNY ADLER
Northampton officials want to sell a nearly 100-year-old school building in the township’s Richboro section.
The supervisors unanimously voted Wednesday night to transfer the deed of the Richboro Schoolhouse on the 1000 block of Second Street Pike to the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority. The authority will work to find a buyer for the 4,536-square-foot building and the 2-acre lot it sits on.
Any sale of the schoolhouse, which was erected in 1913 and has been vacant since 1989, needs to be approved by supervisors.
Administrators say having the authority work on its behalf may yield a better price than a public bidding process and will give the township more say in the former school’s future.
The supervisors solidified an agreement with the redevelopment authority in October, shortly after an Upper Southampton appraiser estimated the fair market value of the property at $530,000.
The exterior of the schoolhouse was restored in 2007, but the inside is trashed. Photos taken in December show damaged walls and fixtures smashed by vandals. Debris is strewn around, and an old blackboard is covered with messages, like “We are watching you” and “We’re all gonna Die!”
The state’s redevelopment law allows the Bristol-based authority to negotiate the sale price of real estate without seeking public bids, officials said. The October agreement says the authority will forward proceeds to Northampton.
While officials will be able to put limitations on different aspects of the property, from its use to aesthetics, any restrictions are likely to lower the market value, Supervisor George Komelasky said.
“Any time you limit what the purchaser could do with the property, the value would actually come down,” Komelasky said.
Township Manager Bob Pellegrino said 12 people have showed interest in the property.
Supervisor Frank Rothermel had opposed the October agreement, saying he wanted the township to hold onto the property and use the historic structure for educational and nonprofit use. He voted in favor of the deed transfer Wednesday.
Friday, February 27, 2009
"Stop the School" in Pennsbury?
From the BCCT.
‘Throw the bums out!’ It’s time for a taxpayer revolution
Two Democrats and two Republicans face re-election as Pennsbury school board directors this year. All four of them need to be thrown out of office.
If making that statement ruffles feathers in my own party, so be it. Sometimes one just has to say enough is enough. School taxes are roughly 80 percent of property taxes for most Pennsbury residents, and nine elected school board officials have been raising our property taxes above the rate of inflation year after year.
With the current economic crisis causing serious hardship and financial distress for many people, the idea that the school board could even consider raising our property taxes more than 4.1 percent this year is obscene. Yet on Feb. 12, the board voted to approve having that right. Then on Feb. 19, the board voted on a tentative teacher union contract that adds millions of dollars to labor costs next year. Not one penny of this multimillion-dollar additional expenditure on teachers’ salaries and benefits will improve one student’s academic performance.
Let’s remember that Pennsbury’s teachers are already extremely well compensated. Their taxpayer-funded salaries are among the very highest in the state, and their taxpayer-funded benefits are out of this world. All this tentative agreement does is say that teachers who earn a $98,000 salary must wait one year before getting another pay hike. Most other teachers will still get big pay raises and all teachers will get their incredibly low 10 percent contributions to health care premiums locked in for another year.
Are the people expected to pay higher property taxes to give away such freebies? That would be us — the people who are losing their jobs and homes in a recession. And that’s why the four incumbents need to be thrown out of office. Much like those unethical opportunists in the state Legislature who pander to the teachers union to get elected, our local school officials are doing the same thing.
We read daily reports of job losses, as private employers are cutting labor costs in an effort to survive this recession. But our school board knows it can never go out of business because, whenever there is a revenue shortfall, they just shake down taxpayers.
To add millions of dollars to labor costs shows how out of touch the school board has become. They don’t want to make any decisions that might upset the teachers union. So instead, they spin a pay “freeze” — in name only — proposal onto the public.
Well, it is time for a taxpayer revolution. If you haven’t yet marked your calendar for May 19, please do it now. That’s when school board elections occur and they are typically low voter turnout affairs. Low voter turnout allows union-backed candidates a chance to get elected, to inflict even more pain upon taxpayers. So I put it to readers that voting on May 19 is as important as voting last November.
The Pennsbury school board should have voted against raising property taxes more than 4.1 percent this year. And they should have voted down this union-pandering, tax-hiking, multimillion-dollar increase in labor costs agreement with the teachers union. Then, the board should have voted to negotiate more realistic concessions.
If teachers don’t want to make realistic contract concessions, then we need to start firing them. They should be thankful for being protected with a job for life in today’s economy. Because how many families are dealing with a job loss? How many seniors are dealing with the possibility of losing their home?
Enough is enough. The incumbents on the Pennsbury school board have failed us. Make a note on May 19 to throw them out of office. Taxpayers hit hard by this recession are at breaking point. The American people have always had a revolutionary spirit, and the rallying cry “Throw the bums out!” has swept across many prior elections. It now needs to sweep across the Pennsbury School District in 2009.
‘Throw the bums out!’ It’s time for a taxpayer revolution
Two Democrats and two Republicans face re-election as Pennsbury school board directors this year. All four of them need to be thrown out of office.
If making that statement ruffles feathers in my own party, so be it. Sometimes one just has to say enough is enough. School taxes are roughly 80 percent of property taxes for most Pennsbury residents, and nine elected school board officials have been raising our property taxes above the rate of inflation year after year.
With the current economic crisis causing serious hardship and financial distress for many people, the idea that the school board could even consider raising our property taxes more than 4.1 percent this year is obscene. Yet on Feb. 12, the board voted to approve having that right. Then on Feb. 19, the board voted on a tentative teacher union contract that adds millions of dollars to labor costs next year. Not one penny of this multimillion-dollar additional expenditure on teachers’ salaries and benefits will improve one student’s academic performance.
Let’s remember that Pennsbury’s teachers are already extremely well compensated. Their taxpayer-funded salaries are among the very highest in the state, and their taxpayer-funded benefits are out of this world. All this tentative agreement does is say that teachers who earn a $98,000 salary must wait one year before getting another pay hike. Most other teachers will still get big pay raises and all teachers will get their incredibly low 10 percent contributions to health care premiums locked in for another year.
Are the people expected to pay higher property taxes to give away such freebies? That would be us — the people who are losing their jobs and homes in a recession. And that’s why the four incumbents need to be thrown out of office. Much like those unethical opportunists in the state Legislature who pander to the teachers union to get elected, our local school officials are doing the same thing.
We read daily reports of job losses, as private employers are cutting labor costs in an effort to survive this recession. But our school board knows it can never go out of business because, whenever there is a revenue shortfall, they just shake down taxpayers.
To add millions of dollars to labor costs shows how out of touch the school board has become. They don’t want to make any decisions that might upset the teachers union. So instead, they spin a pay “freeze” — in name only — proposal onto the public.
Well, it is time for a taxpayer revolution. If you haven’t yet marked your calendar for May 19, please do it now. That’s when school board elections occur and they are typically low voter turnout affairs. Low voter turnout allows union-backed candidates a chance to get elected, to inflict even more pain upon taxpayers. So I put it to readers that voting on May 19 is as important as voting last November.
The Pennsbury school board should have voted against raising property taxes more than 4.1 percent this year. And they should have voted down this union-pandering, tax-hiking, multimillion-dollar increase in labor costs agreement with the teachers union. Then, the board should have voted to negotiate more realistic concessions.
If teachers don’t want to make realistic contract concessions, then we need to start firing them. They should be thankful for being protected with a job for life in today’s economy. Because how many families are dealing with a job loss? How many seniors are dealing with the possibility of losing their home?
Enough is enough. The incumbents on the Pennsbury school board have failed us. Make a note on May 19 to throw them out of office. Taxpayers hit hard by this recession are at breaking point. The American people have always had a revolutionary spirit, and the rallying cry “Throw the bums out!” has swept across many prior elections. It now needs to sweep across the Pennsbury School District in 2009.
Right to Know Law Update
The first group of rulings on records sought under the new law have been made. The York Daily Record has a great website that covers the new PA State Right to Know law.
The Office of Open Records also has their website where rulings and final determinations made will be posted.
The Office of Open Records also has their website where rulings and final determinations made will be posted.
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