School District 25 Levy Information
Posted by on Monday, March 15, 2010
Under: Columns
Voting Locations
Well, it’s that time again. It’s, once again, time to feed the School District 25 ‘kitty’; their insatiable demand for more, more and MORE!
It seems almost impossible, but it was only last year that SD 25 was demanding a $7.5 million ‘supplemental levy’ to (once again) ‘save the teachers’, or some other absolute need. Of course, we, the voters, saw the fallacy in that attempt at extortion and turned the supplemental levy away, only to have the District return asking for “only” $6 million, which they got.
This time we’re being asked for “only” $3.8 million (per year), no discussion of the escalator clause that will cause the $3.8 million to grow to more than $6 million, per year. In other words, the total 10 year package will grow to a total tax of somewhere between $45 and $60 million and this is over and above the $6 million supplemental levy we already have!
Next year we can expect another demand for additional millions since next year is the year for ‘supplemental levy’ requests. Last year, the taxpayers told District 25 ‘NO” to the $7.5 million supplemental levy. We need to say “NO” to this year’s demand. The new total of the supplemental levy from last year, and this expanded tax for the School Facility Levy, will total about $10 million per year! Oh, and one other thing: District 25 will receive an additional $2.2 MILLION this year, from the State Land Trust, and they aren’t telling you about this! THIS NEVER-ENDING MONEY GRAB MUST STOP!
District 25 was NOT truthful on the recent card-drop that stated that your taxes won’t go up. If this is the kind of math they’re teaching, no wonder our kids don’t succeed! If the tax starts at $3.8 million and goes up to $6.1 million in 10 years, how on earth does that equate to a non-increase? Superintendent Mary Vagner continues to say that this is not a tax increase; really? Is she using a new form of math; some new and exotic form of geometric logic?! As has been said; figures don’t lie, but liars can figure!
School District 25 is the second largest employer in Bannock County, second only to ISU; that should give us some idea as to the desperate fiscal straights in which we find our economy. The private sector, that is the businesses that produce the tax dollars, is almost insignificant in number by comparison
There are an estimated 2,500 Teacher’s Union and other Civil Service union votes that can be counted on to block-vote for the levy. That’s a formidable formula for disaster for those of us who are retired, or underemployed, because property owners and the few private sector employers will foot this bill!
Sure, it’s easy for Ms. Vagner; her pay-and-benefits package approaches $200,000 per year. And she has 15 ‘administrators’ who have pay-and-benefits packages that exceed $100,000 per year. Many, if not most of these folks, are also married to working spouses. One can easily understand that SD 25 management has no fear of property tax increases; but I do. And so should you.
If you feel that it’s time to stop the property tax, supplemental levy, merry-go-round, I urge you to VOTE ‘NO’ on The School Facility Levy, Tuesday, March 16th, 2010. If each of us e-mails just 10 taxpayers we can make our voice heard. We may even stop the train wreck. But time is short: WE MUST ACT NOW!
Voting Locations
Well, it’s that time again. It’s, once again, time to feed the School District 25 ‘kitty’; their insatiable demand for more, more and MORE!
It seems almost impossible, but it was only last year that SD 25 was demanding a $7.5 million ‘supplemental levy’ to (once again) ‘save the teachers’, or some other absolute need. Of course, we, the voters, saw the fallacy in that attempt at extortion and turned the supplemental levy away, only to have the District return asking for “only” $6 million, which they got.
This time we’re being asked for “only” $3.8 million (per year), no discussion of the escalator clause that will cause the $3.8 million to grow to more than $6 million, per year. In other words, the total 10 year package will grow to a total tax of somewhere between $45 and $60 million and this is over and above the $6 million supplemental levy we already have!
Next year we can expect another demand for additional millions since next year is the year for ‘supplemental levy’ requests. Last year, the taxpayers told District 25 ‘NO” to the $7.5 million supplemental levy. We need to say “NO” to this year’s demand. The new total of the supplemental levy from last year, and this expanded tax for the School Facility Levy, will total about $10 million per year! Oh, and one other thing: District 25 will receive an additional $2.2 MILLION this year, from the State Land Trust, and they aren’t telling you about this! THIS NEVER-ENDING MONEY GRAB MUST STOP!
District 25 was NOT truthful on the recent card-drop that stated that your taxes won’t go up. If this is the kind of math they’re teaching, no wonder our kids don’t succeed! If the tax starts at $3.8 million and goes up to $6.1 million in 10 years, how on earth does that equate to a non-increase? Superintendent Mary Vagner continues to say that this is not a tax increase; really? Is she using a new form of math; some new and exotic form of geometric logic?! As has been said; figures don’t lie, but liars can figure!
School District 25 is the second largest employer in Bannock County, second only to ISU; that should give us some idea as to the desperate fiscal straights in which we find our economy. The private sector, that is the businesses that produce the tax dollars, is almost insignificant in number by comparison
There are an estimated 2,500 Teacher’s Union and other Civil Service union votes that can be counted on to block-vote for the levy. That’s a formidable formula for disaster for those of us who are retired, or underemployed, because property owners and the few private sector employers will foot this bill!
Sure, it’s easy for Ms. Vagner; her pay-and-benefits package approaches $200,000 per year. And she has 15 ‘administrators’ who have pay-and-benefits packages that exceed $100,000 per year. Many, if not most of these folks, are also married to working spouses. One can easily understand that SD 25 management has no fear of property tax increases; but I do. And so should you.
If you feel that it’s time to stop the property tax, supplemental levy, merry-go-round, I urge you to VOTE ‘NO’ on The School Facility Levy, Tuesday, March 16th, 2010. If each of us e-mails just 10 taxpayers we can make our voice heard. We may even stop the train wreck. But time is short: WE MUST ACT NOW!
Voting Locations
In : Columns
