Thursday, April 8, 2010

2010 Kingston School Budget -- VOTE NO on Tuesday, May 18th.

50 Jobs eliminated plus a 10 percent TAX HIKE........In other words, in Kingston, our Board of Ed and administrators are DISMANTLING our school district PLUS they are CHARGING US MORE TAXES FOR LESS SERVICES..................The only way to send a message to the TEACHER'S UNION, BOARD OF ED and ADMINISTRATION is to VOTE NO on TUESDAY, MAY 18th.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Won't an austerity budget resulting from two no votes cause the tax increase to be much higher, due to the fact that the district will then be required to fund the positions that the budget proposal seeks to eliminate?

Ralph Mitchell said...

To 7:50pm,
That is a good question. However, austerity budgets are always lower than proposed budgets which are voted on by the taxpayers. Therefore, do not worry about voting down the budget twice resulting in higher taxes.

Anonymous said...

I think that you need to check this out. In an austerity budget the school district must follow through with all contractual obligations and hold all other lines at least year's numbers, which mean no layoffs.

The problem here is the state aid being cut, not any substantial increase in spending. The school district is using layoffs to lessen that blow. If austerity takes away the layoffs then the taxes will sky rocket even more.

So in this case as with the last budget, Austerity will lead to higher taxes.

joe frank said...

some school districts are telling resident voters that if a budget is voted down the first time that they will automatically go to "Austerity". They say that it costs money to the district to do another vote so they move right to Austerity at that point.

I am not saying that Kingston has announced this but I guess its possible that they could announce it anytime prior to the vote.

Ralph Mitchell said...

To 9:37am,
Thanks for your comment. In our relativistic world, where up means down and bad means good, we have to seriously consider that school boards may win when the taxpayers reject the budgets. In other words, since we the taxpayers of Kingston and New York State have been taken for fools for years by the Board of Education and by the Teacher's Union, I suggest that we demand clarity in our school budget votes. We must demand that a budget rejection and putting an austerity budget in place results in LOWER SCHOOL TAXES.------- no funny business PLEASE.

Unknown said...

Hello Ralph, I heard you on Sue's program this morning. This is Jessica Lawrence, the girl who, perhaps foolishly, agreed to present weekly on the healthcare bill. I'm glad to see you have a blog and encourage people to get involved in their community. I have a question for you, in what way to you see this bill giving more power to the unions in healthcare? You can email me if you like, I forgot to give my address out this morning (next week 2 cups of coffee first!) friendofhippies@gmail.com

Hope to hear from you ^_^

Anonymous said...

I will vote "yes" becuase there is no real benefit by voting "no". Only student programs will be cut, not the self serving administrators. Sure the taxpayers lose but the students lose more. Voting on the budget is a joke, there is no real penalties when there is an austerity budget that protects the staff and not the students.

Ralph Mitchell said...

To ICA,

Jessica, thanks for posting to this blog. Below is an exemption from taxes given to unions.

"supporters of ObamaCare bought off Big Labor by exempting union workers from the whopping "Cadillac tax" on high-end health-care plans until 2018. So while other, so-called "rich" Americans with generous, employer-provided health coverage face a 40-percent federal excise tax that's payable immediately, workers who wear the union label get a pass."(from savannanow.com)

In return, it is speculated that unions will get easier access to unionize healthcare workers.

Unknown said...

Interesting. I'm curious now, if one were to join a union (shudder) right now, would they be covered under the exemption or does it only apply to union members at the time of the bill's passing? Are only certain unions eligible? I will look it up.


ICA

Ralph Mitchell said...

To 9:01 pm,

The real benefit to VOTING NO on all area school budgets is to send a RESOUNDING MESSAGE to the UNIONS who run the State of NY and to the politicians who take orders from the unions..........Do you know how much CONTROL unions have in NY State?..........NY State has the Triborough Amendment to the Taylor Law which forces all teacher and municipal union contracts to stay in effect while new contracts are negotiated. For Example, if the teachers get 3% per year raise in the contract, they will automatically continue getting the 3% raise PLUS the BUILT-IN teacher step raises............IN SUMMARY..........if you have any love for your state, city or town and you want YOUNG PEOPLE TO COME BACK TO LIVE HERE........VOTE NO.......ON SCHOOL BUDGET VOTES............WE MUST SEND A MESSAGE.

Anonymous said...

Several years ago the Public voted the budget down twice and we went to austerity - but no modified sports were cut or jobs - how did they do that?

Anonymous said...

In today's Freeman when Spoljaric compares his pay to professional health administrators - isn't that like comparing skilled and experienced labor to untrained and inexperienced labor. He has been very successful at bullying school boards and picking taxpayer pockets.

Anonymous said...

I encourage readers to 1) write to the Kingston Teacher's Federation @ ktf781@aol.com, or call them to pressure them to make concessions NOW. Tell them teachers are losing the taxpayer's support for their failure to make any concessions.

And 2) write your representatives (like Bonacic / Cahill) and tell them the MUST stand up to the teachers union in Albany. All representatives have websites.

We can no longer afford the teachers' automatic pay raises and Cadillac benefits. Teachers make hay and the rest of us lose our homes to foreclosure.

James Shaughnessy said...

In an austerity budget, there is a limit on the increase in appropriations. Also, districts cannot spend on equipment or repairs other than emergencies. Contractual obligations have to be honored, but within the spending limits. It does not mean that layoffs or reductions in staff are not allowed.

Last year, the board announced that we would go to austerity if the budget was defeated on the first vote. Our increase in expenditures was less than that allowed in an austerity budget, but we never intended to increase appropriations in an austerity budget.

I am a trustee on the Kingston City Schools Board of Education.

Ralph Mitchell said...

To 8:59pm,
James, thanks for identifying yourself as a Kingston School Board member. Several local people including me are just beginning to realize how the teacher negotiation process has been designed to favor the unions in New York State. Over the years, how could the taxpayers of NYS allow the lawmakers to pass something as hideous as the Triborough Amendment to the Taylor Law. I would like to see local school board members in Kingston and Ulster County to join the chorus of taxpayers and school reformers calling for a REPEAL of the Triborough Amendment, which forces all teacher and municipal union contracts to stay in effect while new contracts are negotiated. James, could you see yourself and others on the Kingston School Board openly lobbying for REPEAL of the Triborough Amendment?

Anonymous said...

Wow -- repeal of the Triborough Amendment.

That seems like sense to me...that's something we can hold elected officials responsible for. Great thinking. I'd like to know what BOE members think of that.

Anonymous said...

I suspect BOE's would love to see the repeal of the Triborouh Amendment. They are negotiating from a position of weakness because of the laws, which guarantee pay increases to muni unions regardless of a contract.

WRITE YOUR ALBANY REPRESENTATIVES TODAY. Tell them you've had enough.

Ralph Mitchell said...

All future education suggestions should include total reform of NYState education including vouchers for parents, individual contracts for each teacher with merit renewals only, competition between public, private, parochial schools.......Let the best teachers win!

Anonymous said...

Just hitting the Freeman that the teachers agreed to cut about $3 million from healthcare expenses, but this will still result in an increase in taxes of 9.4% under the proposed budget.

This is the best we can do?

Unbelievably arrogant.

Anonymous said...

9:01 - School budgets always pass because all voters think of are "programs." Beyond that, WHICH programs? Some are good and most are bad. Some try to educate our kids in specialized academic areas that we as parents may not be able to, and most others just make it easy for us to abdicate our responsibility in favor of districts who want to give out free lunch and free condoms and free conflict resolution and free after school activities (IE daycare).

Take care of your own kids, teach them right from wrong yourself, reward them and punish them as you see fit. I'll do the same. You keep more of your money and I'll keep more of mine.

Vote, "NO" on the budget!

Ralph Mitchell said...

To 8:50 am,
I agree with you.
One thing that the public should remember is that in a republic like the USA, the people are in charge not the unions, not the Kingston Teacher's Federation. We the People should not thank the KTF. They work for us. They should thank the taxpayers. Let's see LESS STUDENTS, LESS TEACHERS, BUT A 9.43 PERCENT TAX INCREASE.......NO THANKS..........VOTE NO...TUESDAY..MAY 18TH.

Anonymous said...

NJ voters rejected almost 60% of proposed school budgets this week...I bet reality is sinking in down there.

Anonymous said...

We voted down the budget twice several years ago and were told that modified sports would be cut, etc... truth was nothing was cut - so there is a lot of bs going on.

Anonymous said...

DEar 1128,

Good. So what does that tell you? If you want to vote, "No," then vote, "no." I think you should. Besides, it is unconstitutional to unduly pressure someone to vote a certain way... the fifteenth amendment, I believe.

Anonymous said...

You should be commended for calling radio stations concerning the $ 18 million slush fund the Teacher's Insurance Trust is holding - I believe you embarassed them into giving back $ 1 million to help soften the tax increase.