Clarence BOE pass budget

[gorja]

Clarence budget passes with no opposition

The new budget, with total expenditures of $72,591,945, up from $70,846,804, carries an estimated tax levy of $42,439,977. Spending is 2.46 percent higher, with a tax levy increase at 3.16 percent, the tax cap limit.

The tax rate will be $15 per $1,000 assessed value, up from $14.61. School officials said the tax increase on the average home would be $78, but that would be rebated under provisions in the new New York State budget.

“So the impact on the homeowner in this budget is essentially zero,” Superintendent Geoffrey M. Hicks said.

The board gave the budget unanimous approval.

A public hearing on the budget will be held at 7 p.m. May 12 in the Clarence High School Lecture Hall, the site of Monday night’s meeting. Balloting will take place from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. May 20 in the high school gym.

A budget and property tax report card is available on the district’s website at www.clarenceschools.org.

http://www.buffalonews.com/city-regi...ition-20140407

What a difference a year makes?

[NY The Vampire State]

School officials said the tax increase on the average home would be $78, but that would be rebated under provisions in the new New York State budget.

Where does the "rebate" money come from?

[Genoobie]

Catholic Schools educate for far less, people should be screaming for vouchers and charters. Paladino is doing just that in Buffalo, maybe we could arrange for him to weigh in at the next Clarence school board meeting.

[buffalopundit]

Catholic Schools educate for far less, people should be screaming for vouchers and charters. Paladino is doing just that in Buffalo, maybe we could arrange for him to weigh in at the next Clarence school board meeting.

Catholic Schools educate for far less? If the Queen had balls, she'd be the King.

People don't want charters in Clarence because the quality of the schools is just fine, thanks.

[NY The Vampire State]

I see they want to put astro turf on some of the fields within the district. I almost forgot how they were crying a year ago about how hard it was going to be to give the kids pencils. Now they have all this money to piss away on astro turf. Those poor kids, a year ago there was doubt a new football could be purchased. Now it's astro turf.

[buffalopundit]

I see they want to put astro turf on some of the fields within the district. I almost forgot how they were crying a year ago about how hard it was going to be to give the kids pencils. Now they have all this money to piss away on astro turf. Those poor kids, a year ago there was doubt a new football could be purchased. Now it's astro turf.

The factual ignorance of your comment is breathtaking.

[WNYresident]

Alan,

People were making comments last year that if the full budget didn't get passed sports and other classes were going to be cut. Now we see astro turf being installed. That isn't cheap. It is possible astro turf over 5 years is less costly that up keep with live grass. Anyone ever calculate that out?

[buffalopundit]

Alan,

People were making comments last year that if the full budget didn't get passed sports and other classes were going to be cut. Now we see astro turf being installed. That isn't cheap. It is possible astro turf over 5 years is less costly that up keep with live grass. Anyone ever calculate that out?

The reason why I left the comment that I did - that the factual ignorance is breathtaking - is because the factual ignorance is breathtaking.

In 2013, the district needed a one-time shot in the arm of revenue in order to make up for money lost through the Gap Elimination Adjustment and pension costs relating to the 2008 market plunge. The voters rejected it, and I don't feel like re-litigating old news. Suffice it to say that dozens of teachers were let go, dozens of elective classes, music, and sports programs were lost, and that people had to raise 250,000 to restore the music and sports programs - no teachers, few classes, and the district is still completely without so much as one social worker.

Last year was different, and the budget passed with a within-cap tax hike that covers all of the lost music and sports programs, but still fails to address the lost teachers, courses, and lost social workers.

The proposal to make improvements to the buildings and grounds is part of a bond proposal that is separate and distinct from the year-to-year operating budget that families vote on in May. The bond proposal has yet to be voted on by the board, has not had any public hearing, and has not yet been presented to the voters in the district as part of a legal referendum process. In short, the voters will be asked locally to raise 30% of the cost of making necessary repairs and upgrades to the school buildings, and separately to approve a bond for the playing fields at the high school. The state will cover 70% of the entire cost.

Whether someone thinks this bond proposal is great or not is one thing, but to conflate an inchoate bond proposal with anything having to do with the 2013 budget fiasco reveals little more than a stunning lack of comprehension, attention, and/or knowledge.

[NY The Vampire State]

In 2013, the district needed a one-time shot in the arm of revenue in order to make up for money lost through the Gap Elimination Adjustment and pension costs relating to the 2008 market plunge.

Just a one time thing, really? If it was a one time thing, the tax rate would have been restored back to previous levels after 2013. We knew that wasn't going to happen.

The voters rejected it, and I don't feel like re-litigating old news. Suffice it to say that dozens of teachers were let go, dozens of elective classes, music, and sports programs were lost, and that people had to raise 250,000 to restore the music and sports programs - no teachers, few classes, and the district is still completely without so much as one social worker.

Do you want a trophy for that? I don't care what you did. There are a lot of people that don't want to pay for something when they know they are getting ripped off. If you're foolish enough to continue feeding the broken system that's too bad for you.

Last year was different, and the budget passed with a within-cap tax hike that covers all of the lost music and sports programs, but still fails to address the lost teachers, courses, and lost social workers.

Enrollment is DECLINING you whiner. Teachers should be laid off like everyone else when the work slows down. Am I supposed to subsidize and be the safety net for some teacher because the Unions have a choke hold on the political process? Social Worker? Really? Erie County has a plethora of them, take advantage of that if you want them so bad.

The proposal to make improvements to the buildings and grounds is part of a bond proposal that is separate and distinct from the year-to-year operating budget that families vote on in May. The bond proposal has yet to be voted on by the board, has not had any public hearing, and has not yet been presented to the voters in the district as part of a legal referendum process. In short, the voters will be asked locally to raise 30% of the cost of making necessary repairs and upgrades to the school buildings, and separately to approve a bond for the playing fields at the high school. The state will cover 70% of the entire cost.

STATE+LOCAL+FED=STILL TAX MONEY. Get your head out of the pizza oven fatboy.

Whether someone thinks this bond proposal is great or not is one thing, but to conflate an inchoate bond proposal with anything having to do with the 2013 budget fiasco reveals little more than a stunning lack of comprehension, attention, and/or knowledge.

This has EVERYTHING to do with 2013. You just told me that as of now the district has yet to re-hire all those laid of teachers, restore the programs and hire that much needed social worker. You idiots cried FOUL about the "consequences" from not passing the 2013 budget. Now, you have all this money to spend on astro turf but not hire the beloved teachers back or restore the "precious classes". Whats it going to be? Looks like 2013 was nothing but greed from people who have been so conned into thinking they are entitled to EVERYTHING off the taxpayers back. I sat in those meetings in 2013. A couple times I had the joy of staring at your balding head in front of me. The only people rooting for the crooked budget was you, a couple other oblivious souls and a **** load of TEACHERS!

[buffalopundit]

Just a one time thing, really? If it was a one time thing, the tax rate would have been restored back to previous levels after 2013. We knew that wasn't going to happen.

Tax rates are significantly lower than they were in 2007. Had we followed the advice of the anti-tax people and raised the rate by, e.g., 2% per year, taxes would be significantly higher now. Your facts are wrong.

Do you want a trophy for that? I don't care what you did. There are a lot of people that don't want to pay for something when they know they are getting ripped off. If you're foolish enough to continue feeding the broken system that's too bad for you.

No one's getting ripped off and the system isn't broken. Clarence's school district is among the most cost-effective in the region, as far as the ratio between money spent : results. The district also boasts zero administrative bloat.

Enrollment is DECLINING you whiner. Teachers should be laid off like everyone else when the work slows down. Am I supposed to subsidize and be the safety net for some teacher because the Unions have a choke hold on the political process? Social Worker? Really? Erie County has a plethora of them, take advantage of that if you want them so bad.

Enrollment has been declining, but is not projected to decline to the point where classrooms should see rises from 20 students/teacher to 30, which is what happened. I'd love to take advantage of social workers in Erie County, but they're not budgeted-for.

STATE+LOCAL+FED=STILL TAX MONEY. Get your head out of the pizza oven fatboy.

Actually, you quite clearly don't even know what a bond is, or how the process works. You can call me fatboy all you want, but it only serves to help me to win the argument, it helps to make you look like a childish fool, and you're too cowardly to insult me in a way that reveals who you are and how much of a cancer you are on the public purse. You should just admit that you're a semi-sentient ward of the state and be done with it.

This has EVERYTHING to do with 2013. You just told me that as of now the district has yet to re-hire all those laid of teachers, restore the programs and hire that much needed social worker. You idiots cried FOUL about the "consequences" from not passing the 2013 budget.

There were consequences. Dire ones. Anyone paying a lick of attention can see it. I know that educating kids isn't your priority, but it is for anyone with a grain of intelligence.

Now, you have all this money to spend on astro turf but not hire the beloved teachers back or restore the "precious classes".

No, it isn't. There isn't any money to spend on turf (it's not astroturf, so you even have that fact wrong, because you're ignorant, stupid, and illiterate to boot). There also isn't any money to restore lost teachers so that kids have a student:teacher ratio that reflects the excellence people expect from the district, rather than its systematic dismantling and for-profit privatization, which is encouraged by morons like you. I didn't write "precious classes", so I don't know why you put quotes around it, unless it's because you're too much of an uneducated hack to know how quotation marks work. Suffice it to say that the loss of classes leads to kids being sent to study hall, which is bad all around - not just for the district, but for the individual kids, and also for anyone who pays taxes or owns property in the town. If the school quality declines, so will your property values.

Whats it going to be? Looks like 2013 was nothing but greed from people who have been so conned into thinking they are entitled to EVERYTHING off the taxpayers back. I sat in those meetings in 2013. A couple times I had the joy of staring at your balding head in front of me. The only people rooting for the crooked budget was you, a couple other oblivious souls and a **** load of TEACHERS!

How can you stare "at [my] balding head" while you're home with your tongue mining your mother's sphincter?

You're just another illiterate, dumb, ignorant, uninterested, uninformed griper. You're a dime a dozen. You're less than nothing.

[WNYresident]

Tax rates are significantly lower than they were in 2007. Had we followed the advice of the anti-tax people and raised the rate by, e.g., 2% per year, taxes would be significantly higher now. Your facts are wrong.

First off... it isn't the rate it is the amount of the budget just so people understand how much is being spent.

If a town had 5,000,000,000 in taxable property versus 2,500,000,000 the tax rate would be different even if the budget was the same amount correct?

5,000,000,000 X .05% = 250,000,000 value

2,500,000,000 X .1% = 250,000,000 value

One rate is .05 while the other is .1

I'd rather review a budget on the amount of money physically not based on the taxing rate.

[WNYresident]

No one's getting ripped off and the system isn't broken. Clarence's school district is among the most cost-effective in the region, as far as the ratio between money spent : results. The district also boasts zero administrative bloat.

I'm not referring to Clarence's school district. I'm making a general comment.

That is your opinion while others have different opinions. My opinion is that some "administration" in government are grossly over paid when you add up the "complete" compensation packages along with loop holes. When I say loop holes I'm referring to pension padding etc... I'm talking in general not specifically about the Clarence school district.

[WNYresident]

Enrollment has been declining, but is not projected to decline to the point where classrooms should see rises from 20 students/teacher to 30, which is what happened. I'd love to take advantage of social workers in Erie County, but they're not budgeted-for.

Well perhaps you should start harping on Mark about IDA's and to eliminate them. How many millions of dollars were given away as breaks that could be collected instead to be added to the budget?

[WNYresident]

There were consequences. Dire ones. Anyone paying a lick of attention can see it. I know that educating kids isn't your priority, but it is for anyone with a grain of intelligence.

So when are you going to go to your school board and ask them to accept as many children from the families that are illegally crossing the southern border? Make it your priority.

[NY The Vampire State]

Alan is such a saint and community activist.
Pizzaboy1.pngPizzaboy2.pngPizzaboy3.png


I see we are on the welfare queen thing again. I don't understand that. I think you are mistaking me for someone else.