1.1 FIVE YEAR FORECAST
A new Five Year Forecast was submitted 5/20/2010.
| Total | Expenditure | Total | |||
| FY | Expenditures | Increase | Revenue | ||
| 2007 | $69.7 million | ||||
| 2008 | $71.5 million | $1.8 million | |||
| 2009 | $71.8 million | $0.3 million | |||
| 2010 | $75.8 million | $4.0 million | $77 million | ||
| 2011 | $76.5 million | $ .8 million | $75 million | ||
| 2012 | $78.4 million | $1.9 million | $76 million | ||
| 2013 | $79.5 million | $1.1 million | $76 million | ||
| 2014 | $81.4 million | $1.8 million | $70 million |
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Our Board of Education submitted a new Five Year Forecast
October 26, 2009.
| Total | Expenditure | Total | |||
| FY | Expenditures | Increase | Revenue | ||
| 2007 | $69.7 million | ||||
| 2008 | $71.5 million | $1.8 million | |||
| 2009 | $71.8 million | $0.3 million | |||
| 2010 | $76.3 million | $4.5 million | $77 million | ||
| 2011 | $77.4 million | $1.1 million | $75,million | ||
| 2012 | $79.3 million | $1.9 million | $76 million | ||
| 2013 | $80.5 million | $1.2 million | $77 million | ||
| 2014 | $82.5 million | $1.9 million | $70 million | ||
| Actual fy2007-2009 | |||||
| Forecast fy2010-2014 | |||||
| Note 2010 total exp. $76,103,600 tax budget 1/6/10 | |||||
Hilites: An already exorbitant spending level increases further, while total revenue declines. By FY2014, annual spending will reach $82.5 million. In just five short years the annual spending level will have risen another $10.7 million annually. This current year spending increases $4.5 million. No wonder they want to put another operating levy on the 2012 ballot.
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Notice how the annual revenue drops by $7 million in FY14. This is the first phase of the district losing $12 million business tangible personal property tax revenue. If the board has it’s way, residents and businesses will pay even higher property taxes ($12 million annually) to make up for the loss of business tangible personal property tax revenue.
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Our elected board members (Richter, Adamec, Stauback, Cole, Overman) refuse to consider adequate cuts in spending. The board officially responded to this lost revenue by saying, “Our capped budget approach has been discussed in many of our Board Meetings held in public. As much as we would like, we have no control over Ohio State Legislators who have eliminated (phased out from 2011 – 2018 the Tangible Personal Property Tax for all school districts). Thus, our forecast reflects this phase out and is incorporated in our planned revenue base. We think our capped budget and under-spends for the past several years has cushioned this impact as best we can for property owners including residents and businesses.”
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The administration tells us, “Salaries and wages (Note: salaries/wages and benefits account for 85% of total expendtiures) reflect the impact of the collective bargaining agreement with OAPSE through FY2010 and the collective bargaining agreement with SEA through FY2011. Any costs associated with these or future settlements of these collective bargaining agreements will be included in the expenditure trend parameters (2.5% annual increase) set by the Board.”
I am so tired of people whining about taxes I’m about to vomit. You enjoy one of the lowest tax rates in the civilized world. Our tax rate as a percentage of the GDP is about 28%. Europe and Canada are in the upper 30s and lower 40s. People from those countries move here, in part, to get away from high taxes.
When it comes to schools, there is probably no better place to put your tax dollars. My family moved to Blue Ash primarily because Sycamore was, and still is, a great school and has a history of tax levy approval.
Running a large school system is expensive and complicated. You cannot compare a school budget to your little household budget. As for teacher salaries, which is the lions’ share of any school budget, I want our teachers to be the highest paid in the county. You get what you pay for.
I just read the handouts claiming that increasing property taxes adds to stress. Boo hoo. If you wake up and go to sleep worrying about taxes, move to Adams County. Your tax bill will be next to nothing. Of course, you will not have a job, a good school system or any city services; but if that makes you sleep better, go for it.
I just received and read the brochure from Princeton School District asking voters to approve a ballot issue in May for a bond issue and permanent improvement levy to a building project and to fund basic operations. Voters defeated a request (narrowly) in 2008 and the Board subsequently came back with a “scaled back” plan and reduction in overall costs to the tune of $20million (way to go Princeton!). They got the message and did their duty to the taxpayers. They also trimmed off nearly $16million in total project costs to prove their committment to “VALUE” which they define as “the ability to recognize need versus wants and having the vision to reach common goals for the benefit of the entire community” (not just the students). Their brochure very well articulated their committment to VALUE as they defined it. The last time they asked for and received operating levy funds was way back in 1999. Good job, Princeton, for listening to the residents and taxpayers and not being arrogant and insensitive to us.