The school board had their February meeting. If anyone read the Bryan Times article about the meeting...I wonder if anyone else was as sad as I was.
It is no secret: The Stryker School Board has decided that we need to have a levy on the ballot, and made the decision to put it on the ballot for the March 6th election. The levy in November was defeated. Because the levy was defeated in November the School Board made additional cuts at last night's meeting. Three very qualified, capable people will be without a job for next school year. The School Board has stressed that these cuts are NOT a reflection of job performance, but purely cost-saving measures. How many more cuts can be made before we reach the point of no return?? Our children and future generations of children as well as business owners and those of us who own property in Stryker are affected and will continue to be affected by these decisions.
Times are tough! It is also no secret, that while most businesses make choices to keep their businesses viable, they "produce" a product or offer goods that people buy in order to sustain the business.
Schools are unique. Our "product" is measured by what children have learned and how well prepared they are to be part of society. Most of the monies paid out are for salaried and classified staff....along with utilities for running the building where learning takes place.
But I wonder if you know:
Fiscal Year 2011 actual % of Salary and benefits to Expenditures:
Stryker Schools was the second lowest in the county at 73.3%
(the other county schools had a higher % paid out in Salary and benefits)
Fiscal Year 2012 project % of Salary and benefits to Expenditures:
Stryker Schools is projected to be the lowest in the county at 70.9%
If anyone is interested in reviewing extended data related to this information to please contact the school. This information has been put into graph form (which doesn't transfer to the blog format very well, but is available!!) and can be requested! You can even ask if there are other ways that the school is trying to stay fiscally responsible.
We take the education of our children seriously! As much as we want to keep our jobs, it is truly the children who are uppermost in our minds. The school board has discussed one section per grade level. (PLEASE NOTE: The school board is trying to maintain the educational integrity that we have at this time. They are looking at all options. I use this "option" to paint this word picture: Kindergarten students must learn many things during their first year in the educational system. As of today, there are 17 students in each section. IF there were to be only one section of Kindergartners....can you imagine how much help the teacher would be to 34 five and six year olds???)
So, once again let's look at what the school board is asking:
I don't know about you, but this talk about "mils" and "millage" is hard for me to understand. I want to know the bottom line. It has occurred to me that others may be wondering the same thing! I present to you the following figures:
Owner Occupied Residence
True Value $85,000.00
(Avg. for Stryker Com.)
Assessed Rate 35%
Assessed Value $29,750.00
5.8 Mills 0.0058
tax before credits $172.55
rollback(12.5%) 0.875
Net taxes levied $150.98
True Value$100,000.00
Assessed Rate 35%
Assessed Value $35,000.00
5.8 Mills 0.0058
tax before credits $203.00
rollback(12.5%) 0.875
Net taxes levied $177.63
True Value $50,000.00
Assessed Rate 35%
Assessed Value $17,500.00
5.8 Mills 0.0058
tax before credits $101.50
rollback(12.5%) 0.875
Net taxes levied $88.81
True Value $75,000.00
Assessed Rate 35%
Assessed Value $26,250.00
5.8 Mills 0.0058
tax before credits $152.25
rollback(12.5%) 0.875
Net taxes levied $133.22
NET TAXES LEVIED is the total amount it would cost for the year in "raised" taxes. Or let's think of this another way....
If the true value of your home is $85,000, you would pay $150.98 additional for the year. That is broken down to $12.58 per month. The cost of three value meals a month? Two 24 packs of Pepsi or Mountain Dew?
A home whose true value is placed at $100,000, your taxes would be an additional $177.63. Your per monthly cost equals $14.80 . That is the price of one dinner at AppleBee's (or less than the cost of 2 books of stamps).
If your home has a true value of $50,000 your taxes would total $88.81 which is just $7.41 (approximately) per month. That would be less than the cost of one book of stamps.
A home with a true value of $75,000 would pay an additional $133.22 for the year, which breaks down to $11.10 per month.
I have watched "pennies" and scrimped and struggled to make ends meet. I still don't have the savings account that is recommended (I can't remember when I made a deposit to my savings account!) and live "paycheck to paycheck". But, there is something about seeing the breakdown of a "per monthly" payment that makes additional taxes a little easier to manage. I know my first reaction to raised taxes is "how can I afford that???" in this economy, but when we realistically look at the facts and figures, I hope that your minds are eased a little and that we can all agree it is a "small price to pay" when it comes to the children of our community. Children who are our future and will someday be "running" our community. Don't WE deserve to make sure that they are prepared for their future responsibilities?
(For those "long-time" blog readers, this may seem familiar. I have copied and pasted a previous blog post for one simple reason: THE INFORMATION (and millage) HASN'T CHANGED. Rather than re-invent the wheel, I shared with you again this important information.
Please VOTE YES on March 6th. Together we CAN make a difference!
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