Commissioner Fraasch writes about the Muni's involvement in the appeal hearings - UPDATED

Take a look at Kelly Fraasch's blog, Muni involvement in property assessment appeal hearings… As I had written in a previous post and commented at last night's meeting, there was an item on last night's agenda, where the motion was made, but not seconded for Consideration to financially participate in the Mt. Lebanon School District’s involvement in property assessment appeal hearings. 


From reading Kelly's blog, it appears that the Commission never discussed this. Dave Brumfield said that it was his idea.  Kristen Linfante made the motion, so it looks like the school board liaison is all for it too.

Make sure you see the link Kelly provided to Tom Moertel's map on Blog-Lebo which illustrates the large concentration of over assessments in Ward 5 as well as Ward 1.


Update May 31, 2012 11:18 pm To be fair, here is a link to Kristen Linfante's blog, Why I voted "no" (anyone hear "Dueling Banjos" playing in the background?) She writes:

The commission met this past Tuesday night and had a lively discussion about a variety of issues.  One such issue was a propsal [sic] that Kelly Fraasch and Matt Kluck jointly proposed with regards to spending money out of our undesignated fund. 

She goes on to say:

It is my hope that we will come to a consensus that a bond is not only necessary, but the right thing to do.

As well as:

A bond, (and I'm not talking a huge bond, but a bond) along with a portion of our undesignated fund could address these concerns.

Her previous post was about Field Signs/New Revenue

...it is the responsibility of the commission to find new revenue sources for the municiaplity [sic]. 

 I am confused.  Is a bond, not a huge bond, but a bond a way to find new revenue sources?

New poll

I was reminded of this Blog-Lebo post, April 13, 2009 An Ultimatum from Some Athletic Supporters. A follow up post from Mike Madison has links to responses. Summary of School Board Candidates' Positions on Lebo Athletic Facilities

9. Would you support financially a collaborative project with the municipality regarding immediately turfing the field at Mellon in preparation for the High School renovation project?

Here we are three years later, and still getting pressure from the sport groups. With that in mind, I started a new poll. Please take a moment and vote.

Want to see something incredible?

Over on Blog-Lebo, Tom Moertel created an interactive Google map of Mt. Lebanon's reassessments. Making Sense of the New Assessments: Winners and Losers This is incredible, folks. Tom incorporated the Mt. Lebanon reassessment figures with Google Maps to estimate who dodged the bullet and who will be faced with higher taxes.  Well done, Tom!

The Hart/Fraasch one-two punch

Talk about timely...I was reading an old post by Tom Moertel on Blog-Lebo called How to Brew an Economic Perfect Storm in One Easy Lesson.   The Trib had an article in Sunday's paper written by Jake Haulk (Allegheny Institute for Public Policy) titled, The property tax increase. It was a Policy Brief from Allegheny Institute that inspired Tom to write his piece on brewing an economic perfect storm. 

The comments on Tom's post, almost two years old, are fascinating. Mark Hart made his predictions and James Fraasch shared his thoughts; both were spot on with their comments.  I saw words like LEED certification, 15 Design Criteria, crossing Horsman Drive, etc.  Where are all these people now?  You folks are very quiet now.  In two days, will we be duped into accepting bids just under the limit?  When the bids come in at cost, will people enter a state of "whew" euphoria- even though it's still $115 million damn dollars?  And it is for a project nowhere near what we were promised for $95 million, let alone $113 million!

PS.  Thanks goes to Dave Franklin for coming up with the title of this post. 

Nothing has changed.

Looking at the Blog-Lebo archives,   http://bloglebo.blogspot.com/2009/04/ultimatum-from-some-athletic-supporters.html  David Reese needs to get new material.  His letter, which he has not permitted me to reprint,  is quite similar, almost verbatim in his comments.  Mike Madison called his actions bullying on April 14, 2009. 

I see and read bullying here (in the "questionnaire"). I object to bullying by adults even more than I object to bullying by children. Our kids deserve better models.

In looking at Dave Reese's letter to me, I have done some investigating. It appears that the athletic supporters are waiting for a defined project before contributing any money. How much more defined can it be? He has a $30 million facility PURELY FOR ATHLETICS going in as part of the HS project.  How much more defined is that?

His original idea was for a fieldhouse on the Rockpile.  It would have provided all-weather indoor practice facilities for the sports teams. They had suggested that they could raise half the cost of the estimated $16 million project (for which they had already had an architect do some drawings.)  Yet, Reese denies there was ever a promise.  He said that no one knows what they are talking about and that we could meet "AND NO RECORDER", but then withdrew his offer.  I was dismissed and told to go back to my blogging and flogging.

Elaine "Blogging and Flogging" Gillen

"...it's easier to say 'I'm sorry' than it is to ask for permission."

With Act 25 passed, I hope the Board isn't planning to forge ahead and half way through construction say, "I'm sorry.  I guess we need a referendum to complete this project." Word on the street is that the Board is being advised that we "shouldn't" need a referendum.  Now that we no longer have an Audit and Finance
Committee, who will the auditors be reporting to in the Fall?  There are no more checks and balances in the School District.

It is fascinating to read old Mt. Lebanon blogs.  Some commenters have been consistent with their messages, while others changed direction.  The bottom line is that there were previews of coming attractions in 2009. 
The following comments are from an old Blog-Lebo post from two years ago.

Dave Franklin said...

There is an area of bankruptcy and corporate law known as the "zone of insolvency". In short, this is a growing legal principle created by the Bankruptcy Courts that provides that when a company is approaching insolvency, the focus of the directors' fiduciary duty should shift from the shareholders to the company's creditors. In other words, if a board is even concerned about possibly being insolvent, the best course of action is to begin acting like the corporation is insolvent. Therefore, from a practical standpoint, the board should not continue with business as usual when there are indications that the company may be insolvent.

So what am I getting at?

Well, if we are within $500,000 (or even $1,000,000) of the price tag that would require a referendum, it's pretty safe to assume that by the time this project is even close to done, we will be well above that threshold cost. Anyone who has undertaken any sort of construction project - whether at home or at work - appreciates that construction costs go up, not down. One rule of thumb that some people in the industry use is to take the anticipated costs and add 8-10%. If we apply a way more conservative potential cost increase to this project, say just 2%, that would mean an additional $2,300,000 added to the price of this project. By anyone's standards, therefore, it only seems prudent for the board to acknowledge that the *total* cost of this project (as presently considered) will exceed the amount that they can legally borrow and spend without a community-wide vote. In other words, if we're even talking about the need for a referendum, the school board should start acting like we are in the "zone of a referendum".

It was last reported that the borrowing threshold is about $115.5 million. It seems to me that there is no reasonable way (when factoring in cost increases, delays, etc) that this project (as presently considered) can come in under the threshold amount. In light of that, what are the board's obligations with respect to seeking a community-wide vote? When does that happen? I just hope that the school board isn't applying another ill-fated principle - the one that states that it's easier to say "I'm sorry" than it is to ask for permission.

And I must agree with Mr. Hart. If we're banking on a $1.7 million reimbursement from the Commonwealth, I'm not holding my breath. In case no one on the School Board is paying attention, the state today enters its 4th week with no budget and by most accounts it could be weeks yet before Pennsylvania is able to pay its vendors or the 77,000 government employees. If Pennsylvania can't pass a budget in time to pay its employees, I'm hard pressed to put any sort of faith in receiving state funds for our school project. Besides, if this $115 million project lives or dies based on $1.7 million from the state, we've got much bigger problems.

JULY 23, 2009 10:02 AM

 Bill Lewis said...

Dave...please refer to my comments on Joe Polks posting "Energy Certification Costs Raises Eyebrows in Mt. Lebanon" on 7/23.

Another *hidden* cost of the HS project, worth repeating once again, is the proposed wrapping of proposed & scheduled 2nd.& 3rd. bond issues that would result in excess interest costs amounting to $10 million over the term of the issues. Exactly the amount we're incurring in the $50 million bond issue for the Elementary School project in 2003 that will require $103 million in tax $ to pay down. All in the name of minimizing the initial tax increase that a normal serial, and lower overall cost, bond issue would otherwise require. Equivilant to interest-only mortgages with baloon principal payments during the final 3 years of the mortgage term. And there has been no public outcry that I am aware of. Based on your comments, perhaps we are contributing to the "subprime lending" debacle ? And it is nigh-on impossible to get bond insurance these days; however, the Commonwealth backs school bonds to some degree...but they appear to be insolvent in many respects as well.

The key differences between the Commonwealth & public school boards and the general public is that the Commonwealth & school boards have taxing & police powers, and we do not. And the public referendum law and regulations are a farce.

JULY 25, 2009 11:46 AM 

Update 8:40 a.m.  I received a link to a Youtube video about Obama that reminded me of what is happening in Mt. Lebanon.  http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=gQD9IaGoLWk 

Here are some bullet points from that video.

"You ignored us.

We pleaded.

You mocked us.

You signed it...in spite of us.

We said no.

November Arrives "Shellacking"

(I have no idea why this update is appearing in upper case.)