Messages

You know, quite honestly, whoever came up with the idea of the 5.5million dollar bond didn't do their homework.  According to the Kansas Dept. of Labor, as of Sept. 2009, there are 1,010 working individuals in Elk county.  In order to payback that bond each individual would have to pay roughly $5400.  So for a two income family thats $10,800. before interest.  Seems a little steep to me.  I know that there are maintance and structure fatigue issues with some of our schools, however has anyone asked for donations from the parents that send their kids to these schools?  And maybe its just me but I haven't seen to many fundraising activities to help raise money for repairs.  
 

Are you really serious?  You obviously don't understand the process by which bonds are sold and paid back to finance the construction of a school.  It has nothing to do with the population of working men and women. Please read back through the "Convince Me" and "School Changes" threads. There is plenty of explanation.  

The kids are selling tacos and enchilladas right now. I will suggest to the board that we repair the high school w/ soft taco funds. Give me break!

David

Mine went down.

Welcome Josey Ann!  We hope both mommy and baby are doing well!

I do believe that fifth and sixth grade classes were conducted in the highschool building last year.

Edie,

Last school years arrangement had only the sixth grade at the high school.  The number of students allowed for one sixth grade class at the HS/Jr HS. There were two fifth grade classes, one at Moline Elementary and one at Severy Elementary.

David

Well said Joanna..and I agree 100%....

Ditto.

Thank you,

David

This is a graph showing the population of Elk County using the numbers in Mark Hall's post. I think this illustrates that we are not on a steep decline as we were from 1930 to 1970.

David

Sarah,

Thanks for raising some questions.  I would like to address some of them.

The problem is that state aid per student continues to decline in these economic times.  The cost of operating three campuses has not.  The only way we can cut expenses now is to cut in the classroom. To cut educational programming.

We could do upkeep on the buildings.  This would not address our operational costs.  That would stay the same.  And, this does not address upkeep needed on the HS/JrHS that is over 30 years old now.

We are not building a new building to attract teachers with a new building. You are right. We need to pay our teachers more.  Which gets back to operational funds.  We need to become more efficient to allow for growth in teacher salaries.  We cannot raise any more tax money right now to raise those salaries. Our local option budget is maxed out.  We have no extra money.

A new building will definitely affect our children's education.  And it has nothing to do with being pretty or having bells and whistles.  It has to do w/ money.  If we don't become more efficient w/ operational costs, then we will have to make cuts that affect our children's education. If we do become more efficient, then we can not only maintain our current level of education but we will be able to enhance it.

As far as population decline, if you look at Mark Hall's post, you will see that the decline has slowed.  And I think, in my opinion, shoring up our schools will help stabilize our population.

Lastly, you stated at the beginning of your post that paying more tax isn't real appealing.  If we don't do this, you will see our LOB (school tax that has increased dramatically over the last few years to make ends meet) remain at the highest level.  If we pass the bond,  through efficiency in operation, we will be able to lower the LOB before the bond is paid off.  Post bond (when the bond is paid in full) our taxes will be less than they are now.  This is demonstrated through other school districts like ours. Post bond - their taxes have actually gone down compared to before their bond.

David

Just have to say a great game. Again, opposing team had many more players. The West Elk boys are gun to watch as they play hard and don't quit. Really exciting to see them win.

They scored the winning touchdown w/ 10 seconds left and on 4th and goal.

David

Got a question on the statement when taxes go down.  Now we all know once a government entity gets a tax in place they never let it go.  Too easy to find other uses for the free money.  What guarantees does a property owner have that their taxes will go down?  Is it in writing, signed sealed as in a contract that they can sue if they don't go down?  

Sorry but when it comes to taxing the public, i am a pure skeptic when i hear taxes will go down.

I would agree if we were talking about our State or Federal govt.  

The school board has not given any guarantee nor is there any contract.  They have stated that they want to lower the Local Option Budget.  These persons serving on the school board are tax payers also.  I believe that they want their taxes to go down also.  They have only been raised out of necessity as state aid has declined - and expenses have not (unless programming is cut).

David

Also, as I understand it, the bond issue is for the full amount of building costs and does not figure in any FEMA or State-Aid money, so the figures you see on taxes are actually calculated on the HIGH side, and will likely be lower, especially in Years 2 & 3. 

This needs to be corrected so that there is no misunderstanding.  The information about property taxes being distributed is based on a $5.55M construction cost that will be financed by the sale of bonds to be amortized over 15 years at an estimated interest rate of 4.25% and this does include state aid (29% of principle and interest over the life of the bonds).  The percent of state aid could increase but that would not be know until 2010 - after the bond election.

What is not included in figuring the property tax is the FEMA payment.  This would be a reimbursement and could be applied to the principle which would result in earlier repayment. We can pay off the loan at 10 years (or anytime in between 10 and 15) w/out penalty.

Taxes will go down, as is the plan by the board, when they can lower the Local Option Budget.  Again, this could be done by making our operating expenses more efficient w/ centralized elementary school and by avoiding the costs of repairs that are needed on both of the current elementary school buildings.

David