Wednesday, August 17, 2016

More government waste UPDATED

From the August 15, 2016 MLSD Agenda:
Air Conditioning ­ RESOLVED, That the Board approves an agreement with Trane to provide engineering services for air conditioning at Mt. Lebanon Middle and Elementary Schools in an amount not to exceed $260,000, such agreement to be in a form approved by the Solicitor and the Superintendent

 This is one week after this was in The Almanac. Mt. Lebanon School Board weighs costs, benefits of air conditioning

After receiving more information at Monday night’s meeting, the board decided to table discussions in hopes of clarity in the next few months, when board members will decide whether to go along with the project that would cost between $5.6 and $6.1 million, according to project estimates completed by the engineering firm CJL. 
One aspect the board will consider in the near future will be paying the $285,000 engineering fee associated with the project, which will then determine a more specific price point if the district follows through with the project. 
“We constantly need to balance the need to do what we can to enhance the educational experience of our kids,” said Lawrence Lebowitz, board president. “In this case, it means air conditioning in our buildings, so they can be comfortable and perform to their best ability, while recognizing it comes with a cost.”
We know the answer will be that the school board directors will move forward with the project, so why spend the $260,000? Who are they kidding?

August 20, 2016 10:30 AM

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since the Environmental Sustainability Board seems to have gone deaf and dumb on increasing school district energy consumption we might as well disband the Lebogreen Team and cancel Earth Day Celebrations once the a/c is installed and school district energy consumption increases by around $150,000 per year!

http://www.lebogreen.org/
MT LEBANON ENVIRONMENTAL TEAM

The Mt. Lebanon Environmental Team is a group of local Mt. Lebanon citizen volunteers devoted to improving the environment by working with residents, elected officials, institutions, businesses and the Mt. Lebanon Environmental Sustainability Board. The team is dedicated to responding to the global and local economic, social and environmental challenges associated with energy demand and human contributions to climate change and to improve the effects of these changes on our community and neighbors.

Unknown said...

All the local boards are impotent. Mayor McGill and Prime Minister Morgan run the town.

Anonymous said...

We would be better served by Mayor McCheese and Captain Morgan.

Anonymous said...

No, because they hand pick the commissioners. And, they have messed that up election after election.

B.

Anonymous said...

from pittsburgh courier:

PAST 10 years:
Mt. Lebanon School District.. asked to raise property taxes by more than $17 million above the rate of inflation... That’s more than any other Allegheny County school district.

Mt. Lebanon increased property taxes at least six times and requested a hike above inflation every year.

In Allegheny County, 35 of the 43 school districts requested and were approved for an exception in the past 10 years. The Mt. Lebanon School District (had) the most of any school district in the county


http://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/2016/08/18/why-are-your-property-taxes-going-up-you-can-blame-school-pensions/

Lebo Citizens said...

Here is the link to the article quoted in the previous comment.

Why are your property taxes going up? You can blame school pensions

Yep, there it is in black and white. We had the highest because Jan Klein has that fake budget every year. We're also the earliest to pass a budget (May), even though all the numbers aren't in yet.

Remember, Timmy's base salary has increased 39% over seven years. Throw in his $20,000 merit bonus, my trusty calculator shows that Timmy's pay has increased 53.4% since he was hired seven years ago. His pension will be out of sight!
Elaine

Unknown said...

What the heck is a pension?

I thought they went the way of TWA ... very 80s....

RG said...

This is a good thread to make a pitch for my favorite local economist, Dr. Antony Davies of Duquesne University. Dr. Davies is internationally known. As well as being an Associate Professor of Economics at Duquesne, he's an Affiliated Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Institute of George Mason Univesity, and Strata Research Fellow. Recently Dr. Davies, and one of his Master's students, ErikaGrace Davies, produced a series of videos on Behavioral Economics. Episode 5, "What You Need To Know About Public Choice," seems like it was custom-made for Lebo Land.

Most of Dr. Davies' videos may be found on LearnLiberty.org, the website for the Institute for Humane Studies. BTW: "ErikaGrace" is the way Ms. Davies' given name is spelled on the IHS site; whether this is a typo or just a unique way of spelling a female's name I cannot say.

Lebo Citizens said...

Richard Gideon, sorry that it took so long to post your comment. It was in the spam folder. I embedded your video. Thank you for posting. It seems sooo custom-made for MTL.
Elaine