Jeremy Nielson @ 9:00 am, August 2, 2010
The Avondale school district is putting forth a debt millage that’ll be on the ballot on Tuesday – an election filled with millages that everyone hopes will pass.
Here are two articles to give a little more background on the Avondale debt millage:
As I read the articles, it became obvious that the same rhetoric just keeps being recycled, time and time again. The city changes, the administration changes, the years go by – but the same pledges are made.
He notes that school bond issues can’t be used for operations and payroll. But it can be used for building and facility improvements for which there is no money in the general operating fund. From the Heitsch points out this can all be done without increasing the tax rate for residents.
I felt compelled to share the story of the Rochester Community School’s Debt Millage… and how we’ve been whacked with a 30% tax increase for a millage that “can all be done without increasing the tax rate for residents.” Read below the fold for the letter to the editor I sent to The Oakland Press. (more…)
Jeremy Nielson @ 9:46 pm, July 29, 2010
I’ve been stewing on this issue ever since it was brought up on April 19. I’ve gone back to the original meeting video to review the presentation ”put on” by Mike Givler of Umbaugh & Associates, and the District’s Finance Director. They rush through the material so quickly, and it’s pretty dense stuff. The quick rundown? Property values have gone down severely and everyone expected property values to keep rising 6% a year.
The consultant from Umbaugh & Associates had the audacity to use the phrase ”it’s a perfect storm”. No, sir, it doesn’t appear to be a perfect storm – it’s just poor planning. His own comments talk about our growth being “very unusual”, and that our area was a “high growth area”. Who would legitimately consult based on the expectation we would continue to see this “very unusual…growth”?
The result of this poor planning results in a 30% tax increase this year – from 5.17 mills to 6.70 mills. Guess what? They can raise your taxes without your vote or your consent! Mike Givler’s quote is classic. The voters “are not voting on that millage [tax rate], though, it’s for information purposes only, and so it’s literally an unlimited tax [rate], technically.”
While I’ve been brewing the issue, Mike Reno has taken the initiative and really set the matter straight. Not once, but twice!
Rochester is operating on a budget of nearly $160 million to teach 14,500 students next year. This is more than the municipal budget for all three cities combined – Oakland Township, Rochester, and Rochester Hills. The budget has gone up from $100 million in 2000. Meanwhile, folks are protesting in Lansing for “stable funding”. Seriously? This 4.5% growth is not in-line with inflation, let alone stable or sustainable.
I really can’t add much more value than Mike has already done in these two articles alone.
I’ll leave with a comment on Mike’s prediction – the sinking fund is coming, folks. Teachers are asking the school board to dip into their “surplus” (a misnomer) to pay their salaries. They’re not going to let any money get away to pay for necessities like fixing buildings and infrastructure. There’s an anecdote that Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks. “That’s where the money’s at,” he would say. Our school district, through their poor planning and failure to lead are looking at taxpayers, because “That’s where the money’s at.”
Jeremy Nielson @ 8:17 pm,
Rafe Esquith was on Frank Beckmann’s show the other day talking about his most recent book, Lighting Their Fires. I was awed at his self-awareness that he fails all the time, but he’s not afraid of it and he encourages teachers to keep going despite their daily failures. His teaching methods seem to be successful, with the 5th graders delving into Shakespeare and the kids learning Algebra – with most of the kids speaking English as a second language.
I really wish I could share the interview with others. During the interview he talks about his book – how taking a few kids to a ball game and the lessons learned during just the ballgame. He passed along two important concepts (more…)
Jeremy Nielson @ 7:52 pm, July 28, 2010
Last Friday’s Detroit News Article, “Michigan Merit Exam scores at highest ever” highlighted a great achievement for Rochester Adams High School.
Rochester Adams High School had the third-highest math scores in the state and second in the tri-county area, with 86.8% proficient. The average ACT score was 23.8.
… (more…)
Jeremy Nielson @ 11:02 pm, July 17, 2010
In July 8th’s Rochester Post was a story about how Rochester schools ranked under a new “ranking system” developed by the Michigan Department of Education. In case you missed it, I’ve stored the article for posterity – “MDE releases new ranking system for public schools”. C&G News doesn’t post too much on their website.
Below is a “Letter to the Editor” I wrote in response to the article, which was published July 15, 2010. This letter will also be sent to the school board. Hopefully they can address this issue – but it sounds like the school board has known about this issue for years (“It certainly reflects all of our assessments,” Debbi Hartman, RCS Communications Directory said.)
Dear Editor: (more…)
Jeremy Nielson @ 8:11 pm, June 30, 2010
The board approved their 2010-2011 budget on Monday, which wraps up their financial obligations by the June 30th deadline. But in order to meet their obligations, they put together a budget that the board and administration both characterized as unreliable.
The budget started out with a $14.6 million deficit, and ended up with a $4.3 million deficit.
Why did the administration consider this budget unreliable? (more…)
Jeremy Nielson @ 7:22 pm, June 1, 2010
Despite the recent ramblings by his Democrat opponents that Gov. Jindal of Louisiana has lost “his free market religion”, let’s make sure we’re loud and clear here. Conservatives believe there is a time and place for Government, even if it is usually as little as is necessary. Few would argue there isn’t a necessity here, and we’re told Government is there to help out when the problem is too big.
However, what Obama’s administration has proven to Gov. Jindal (and the rest of us) is that the government and its bloated bureaucracy stand in the way of individual progress – and in particular, Jindal’s ideas on stopping the oil from reaching his coastline.
These same Democrats want to mock and ridicule Gov. Jindal for following the rules imposed on him and preventing him from acting to save his state, while they trumpet the duplicity that their bureaucracy is the saving grace that could have prevented the oil spill in the first place; but those same policies also prevented any meaningful attempt to stop it from reaching shore.
The solution is simple – for individuals to tell the Government to “get out of my way”.
Jeremy Nielson @ 6:08 pm, May 29, 2010
Yesterday’s Detroit News had a story titled “Schools push retire, rehire”, by Shawn Lewis. In it, he describes an effort being pushed by the Hazel Park School District, and other schools (including the Oakland County ISD). Hazel Park claims they can save $2 million by getting folks to retire, and then rehire them as contractors at a fraction of the cost.
This is just another financial shell game, which seems more and more common in government these days. In a shell game, there are three cups. The scammer hides a ball under one of the cups, moves it around, and a victim bets which cup the ball is under. When the scammer lifts the cup, the victim invariably asks “where’s the ball?”. It obviously didn’t just disappear. (more…)
Jeremy Nielson @ 1:07 pm, May 6, 2010
From “The Life of Colonel David Crockett”, by Edward S. Ellis
(Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884)
CROCKETT was then the lion of Washington. I was a great admirer of his character, and, having several friends who were intimate with him, I found no difficulty in making his acquaintance. I was fascinated with him, and he seemed to take a fancy to me.
I was one day in the lobby of the House of Representatives when a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support-rather, as I thought, because it afforded the speakers a fine opportunity for display than from the necessity of convincing anybody, for it seemed to me that everybody favored it. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose. Everybody expected, of course, that he was going to make one of his characteristic speeches in support of the bill. He commenced:
(more…)
Jeremy Nielson @ 1:27 pm, May 1, 2010
Walking into the RCS board meeting on Monday, the scene of Cafeteria ladies protesting alluded to more pleas to save their jobs – and how horrible outsourcing could be. Not only are the comments, week after week, a broken record (or for those younger readers, a scratched CD) but the same message echoed in the RCS board meetings are seemingly being echoed everywhere outsourcing is discussed. (more…)
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About the Author
Jeremy Nielson is an active Rochester Hills citizen sharing his opinions and views on Local Politics, emphasizing reasonable and common-sense ideas towards improving our community.
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