The school board voted to rescind the proposed 4.69 percent tax increase tonight. I have secured the finalized budget documents and will be reviewing them this week to ensure long term compliance with our requirements for fiscal transparency.
February 29, 2016
Final supporters
Please help stop the proposed tax increase in Southwestern School District. The Southwestern School Board is proposing a tax increase of 4.69% for the 2016-2017 budget. We feel that 64,348,448 is excessive to fund 6 schools and that there are areas in the budget the board could cut without impacting the students or (learners). Please join us in our fight.
Updates
January 22, 2016
The volume of support has reached a level where we can now pivot toward formal engagement with district officials. I have compiled the primary budget concerns highlighted in the comments and am drafting a formal letter for the board members. We are currently scheduling a meeting with the district treasurer to present these specific fiscal objections.
Reached 100 supporters
January 22, 2016
64 Comments
Coming from the best school district in the U.S. (Howard County, MD), I find the SW School District taxes excessive. There has to be gross inefficiency in the operation.
Bottom line, this is to "sure-up" pension funds. Cut the pension. I am a Teamster Union member. We cut our pension to keep the benefit healthy. Government regulations require a minimum threshold for plans, to acheive this the school board will constantly vote a tax increase.
There have been so many new homes added to the district over the last few years. There should be more than enough tax money to cover all expenses without hiking them up...again.
By the time I would like to retire my property taxes will be more than double what they are today if the same increase continues. There is no way this can go on without people losing their homes in retirement or people leaving PA in general. PA is the ONLY state in the USA that allows a teacher's union to control property taxes.
I feel they could cut down on some of the buses. They have buses picking up an dropping off with not a full bus. There are buses passing stops to where they could have dropped off. To me there is a lot of wasted fuel.
I think that there is plenty of money in the budget already, if not too much. And considering I don't even have any kids to send to school this is already a hard tax to deal with.
I've paid this tax for many years now. I'm 73 years old . Will we ever get any relief ?
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The school board voted to rescind the proposed 4.69 percent tax increase tonight. I have secured the finalized budget documents and will be reviewing them this week to ensure long term compliance with our requirements for fiscal transparency.
February 29, 2016
Final supporters
Please help stop the proposed tax increase in Southwestern School District. The Southwestern School Board is proposing a tax increase of 4.69% for the 2016-2017 budget. We feel that 64,348,448 is excessive to fund 6 schools and that there are areas in the budget the board could cut without impacting the students or (learners). Please join us in our fight.
Updates
January 22, 2016
The volume of support has reached a level where we can now pivot toward formal engagement with district officials. I have compiled the primary budget concerns highlighted in the comments and am drafting a formal letter for the board members. We are currently scheduling a meeting with the district treasurer to present these specific fiscal objections.
Reached 100 supporters
January 22, 2016
64 Comments
We're not saying cut the budget, we are saying to live within your means. You cannot raise the tax by the maximum amount every year and not expect some pushback. You are pricing people out of your district. No one is receiving raises at work, stop raising taxes.
Coming from the best school district in the U.S. (Howard County, MD), I find the SW School District taxes excessive. There has to be gross inefficiency in the operation.
Bottom line, this is to "sure-up" pension funds. Cut the pension. I am a Teamster Union member. We cut our pension to keep the benefit healthy. Government regulations require a minimum threshold for plans, to acheive this the school board will constantly vote a tax increase.
There have been so many new homes added to the district over the last few years. There should be more than enough tax money to cover all expenses without hiking them up...again.
By the time I would like to retire my property taxes will be more than double what they are today if the same increase continues. There is no way this can go on without people losing their homes in retirement or people leaving PA in general. PA is the ONLY state in the USA that allows a teacher's union to control property taxes.
I feel they could cut down on some of the buses. They have buses picking up an dropping off with not a full bus. There are buses passing stops to where they could have dropped off. To me there is a lot of wasted fuel.
I think that there is plenty of money in the budget already, if not too much. And considering I don't even have any kids to send to school this is already a hard tax to deal with.
I've paid this tax for many years now. I'm 73 years old . Will we ever get any relief ?
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We're not saying cut the budget, we are saying to live within your means. You cannot raise the tax by the maximum amount every year and not expect some pushback. You are pricing people out of your district. No one is receiving raises at work, stop raising taxes.