Thursday, January 31, 2013
MTLSD Preliminary Budget Posted
School Board Approves Prelimary Budget for 2013-2014
At the January 21, 2013 Regular School Board meeting, the School Board approved the Preliminary Budget, as required by the State, for the 2013-2014 school year, in the amount of $84,469,784. The 2013-2014 Preliminary Budget is available for public view and will be presented for approval at the February 18, 2013 Board meeting. The School Board directed the administration to apply for exceptions to the Index limit under Act 1 of 2006 as further refined under Act 25 of 2011.
The Final Budget for 2013-14 will be voted on by the Board in May. Over the next few months, the School Board and administration will discuss a wide range of budget issues in order to set the millage rate for 2013-2014. Information, including budget documents and videos of budget discussions, will be posted on this website.
http://www.mtlsd.org/District/Budget/default.asp
The way I read the "fake" Budget is that while the initial reported 2013 reassessment value for Lebo increased about 28.7%, appeals have seemingly reduced it to only 23.6% ($2,171,005,011 to $2,683,001,748 = 23.6%).
ReplyDeleteBased on the 2013 assessed value and the "fake" budget projected expenditures and other taxes, the real estate tax required to balance the "fake" budget will require a 2013-2014 millage of 23.05 mills (based on a 96% collection rate) v. a 2012-2013 millage of 27.13 mills, which amounts to only a 15.0% decrease from last year.
This 23.05 millage rate for 2013-2014 represents a 5.0% increase over a revenue neutral allowance, which exceeds the Act 1 legal allowance of only 1.7% by a little over 0.7 mills or about $1.9 million.
So, the question appears to be : (a) is the $1.9 million or 0.7 + mills likely to qualify for exemptions and the 23.05 mills end up applying; or, (b) will they have to reduce projected expenditures by that amount and set the millage at about 22.35 mills; or, (c) will they craft some combination of the two resulting in something in the neighborhood of say 22.7 mills ?
Anyone have a different take ?
Would you mind dumbing it down for me? Are you saying that Jan Klein's fake budget isn't fake enough to qualify for exemptions? Are we getting a referendum? Are the taxes going up?
ReplyDeleteElaine
Wow. I was really overassessed before compared to everyone around me. I was hoping the reassessment would help to even things out. Guess not. This school district is out of control. Like Howard Hughes without the business sense. I'm a Democrat, but I would be willing to dissolve the municipality and the school district and have Louie Gohmert run everything if I thought it would lower my property taxes by $500.
ReplyDeleteIs the $900,000 grievance figured in the budget or will that be another surprise kick to the taxpayers' gut?
ReplyDeleteThis is the fake budget. Nothing is going to show up. Jan is filing for exceptions and we don't even know what those exceptions are. She doesn't break anything down.
ReplyDeleteFrom the people that I have spoken with about their appeals, I only know of one family who won their appeal. I would guess that was out of fifteen cases. The odds were stacked against us.
Elaine
I just want to point out that this is about a 27% increase from 2008-2009. And the second round of bonds still have yet to be floated.
ReplyDeleteIt will probably come down a little at the end of this budget but again, no second round of bonds yet.
Maybe some of those predictions weren't so far off, eh school board?
What a hoot -
ReplyDeleteThe Mt. Lebanon School Board is interested in your feedback. Residents are encouraged to email the Board with questions or comments at schoolboard@mtlsd.net.
I'd love to hear from Remely about this.
ReplyDelete9:30 AM, why don't you email him at dremely@mtlsd.net and let us know what he has to say about this.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I would love to hear any of the responses. I had a page on my website, lebocitizens.com asking each school board director about their vote concerning the 10.5% increase. James Fraasch was the only one to reply with a thoughtful response. I received a few other replies which were identical, including the change tracking, most likely done by our fearless leader.
Elaine
Remely will grump about the tax hike then he will vote with the other board members to approve whatever they can get away doing. Jack those taxes Dan!
ReplyDelete....and Remely wants to go to Harrisburg to work for us? Now, that's "laughable"!
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they go after those recently purchased properties that were assessed for hundreds of thousands of dollars under their 2010, 11 or 12 purchase price.
ReplyDeleteNo the district will fight some poor soul trying to get $20 or 30,000 knocked off their reassessment while someone else buys a property for 800,000 to 900,000 and is assessed for $500,000.
Now you know why Jan got her tail out of town . She knew what was coming'
ReplyDelete1:41.
ReplyDeleteMoney was put in the 2013 municipal budget to do just that. The school district (Posti) said she didn't see the need.
So much for that Democrat standing up for the working class.
"Employers added 157,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department said, which was right in line with analyst expectations. The brightest news, though, was that revised estimates showed much higher job creation at the end of last year than first reported. The nation added a whopping 247,000 jobs in November and 196,000 in December, a combined 127,000 jobs above earlier estimates.
ReplyDeleteThe January unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent, from 7.8 percent, however, as both the number of people reporting having a job and the number looking for one edged up."
So basically these administrators, teachers and board members that claimed they do it all for the kids are saying - we don't give a rats a** if you're one of those people in the 7.8 or now 7.9 unemployment rate, we want ours!
They don't care about the impact on seniors, on families, on local businesses, they can raise taxes almost at will and they don't care whom it hurts.
How much is the Elliott S. Oshry endowment fund reducing the fake budget?
ReplyDelete2:05, in my opinion Mrs. Posti would be hard pressed to predict the sun rising tomorrow. Why the community continues to vote for these people is beyond me.
ReplyDelete"Mrs. Posti said she was angry because the board had not been told earlier of the 75 cost reduction items.
"We needed you a year ago to come to us and present that option," she said.
Kaitlynn Riely: kriely@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1707.
First Published April 28, 2011 6:26 am"
People tried to warn her, especially a fellow board member about excessive spending and the tax hikes that would be necessary to cover it all, but she wasn't going to listen she knew better.
If we could replace the entire board tomorrow, how much could we actually accomplish in terms of spending? I think not much. We'll be paying big money for the capital projects for a long time. The best we could hope for is to prevent the district from building a cold fusion lab in the high school and instituting mandatory space camp for grades 1-8.
ReplyDeleteDitto on that, but at least we wouldn't have to listen to some ___ exclaim "don't roll your eyes at me!"
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered... when someone says "don't roll your eyes at me!", and say ywhack ahead and do it, what's their next step?
Beat you up? Throw something at you? Call you names? Have you arrested?
There is a threat there, just never been able to figure out exactly what it is beyond bullying.
Two sites that residents should read.
ReplyDeletehttp://m.usatoday.com/article/news/1873759
http://jobmarketmonitor.com/2013/02/02/us-delaying-retirement-from-42-in-2010-to-62-in-2012-among-workers-between-the-ages-of-45-and-60/
Of course the administration and teacher's union have convinced our school board we live in bubble.
While Mr. Cooper and his state university collegues are pushing for more money we might want to ask him about this.
ReplyDelete"Study finds that millions of college graduates work jobs that don't require a degree by Roger Riddell Jan. 28, 2013
A new study from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity shows that nearly half of all American college graduates were underemployed in 2010 and holding jobs that don't require a degree.
The accompanying report, "Why Are Recent College Graduates Underemployed? University Enrollments and Labor Market Realities," showed that out of the 41.7 million working college graduates in 2010, 48% worked jobs requiring less than a bachelor's degree, while 37% had jobs requiring only a high school diploma.
Using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the researchers calculated that the number of college graduates is increasing at a disproportionate rate to the number of jobs requiring a degree, leading them to ask whether the U.S. should continue spending so much on higher education when so many graduates end up in jobs they could have landed without a degree."
http://www.educationdive.com/news/study-finds-that-millions-of-college-graduates-work-jobs-that-dont-require/93935/
Funny that the NYTimes seems to be a favored publication of the people in the school district. So we can assume one of two things, 1. they missed this article or 2. they just don't give a damn about anyone else!
ReplyDelete"August 23, 2012, 2:00 pm
Big Income Losses for Those Near Retirement
By CATHERINE RAMPELL
Dollars to doughnuts.
Americans nearing retirement age have suffered disproportionately after the financial crisis: along with the declining value of their homes, which were intended to cushion their final years, their incomes have fallen sharply.
The typical household income for people age 55 to 64 years old is almost 10 percent less in today’s dollars than it was when the recovery officially began three years ago, according to a new report from Sentier Research, a data analysis company that specializes in demographic and income data.
Across the country, in almost every demographic, Americans earn less today than they did in June 2009, when the recoverytechnically started. As of June, the median household income for all Americans was $50,964, or 4.8 percent lower than its level three years earlier, when the inflation-adjusted median income was $53,508.
The decline looks even worse when comparing today’s incomes to those when the recession began in December 2007. Then, the median household income was $54,916, meaning that incomes have fallen 7.2 percent since the economy last peaked.
Income drops vary significantly by age, though. Households led by people between the ages of 55 and 64 have taken the biggest hit; their household incomes have fallen to $55,748 from $61,716 over the last three years, a decline of 9.7 percent.
Sustained unemployment among older workers may be at least partly to blame for this decline. Unemployment rates for that age group are relatively low, but once older workers lose their jobs, they have an unusually hard time finding re-employment. And even when they do find new work, they usually take a pay cut.
To read the rest of the article:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/big-income-losses-for-those-near-retirement/
They vote for these people because when you have 6 people for five open spots, you are bound to get these results!
ReplyDeleteWe need decent citizens to step up and run.