Tuesday, January 31, 2006
The levy would cost the owner of a $150,000 home $238 per year.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- School district residents who packed the high school library Monday seemed to have one primary message for their school board: Raise the money you need -- but not a penny more.
Residents commenting on the approximately 5.2-mill levy Champion residents will see on their ballot May 2 also wanted to know details of the pay-to-play proposal the board had outlined earlier this month.
Brent Swipas said he didn't have any problem with the 3 percent pay raises teachers received for last school year and this one, but he questioned why the system's benefits package increased $500,000 this year. "If small adjustments would have been made in 2004, we might not be having this discussion right now," he told the board.
With the potential loss of income for Champion residents working for Delphi Packard Electric, which filed for bankruptcy last year, many cannot afford a tax increase this large, Swipas said later. Most township residents have had to start paying part of their health care, Swipas said, so it only makes sense that the school board should expect this from its employees.
The board voted 5-0 to approve a resolution that would put the levy on the ballot to raise an additional $944,855 per year for five years starting next year. School officials calculated it would cost the owner of a $150,000 home $238 per year.
Rejected in November
Voters rejected an 8.1-mill levy in November. School officials recently learned that the property revaluation done last year on residential properties throughout the county would change the amount of millage needed to raise the same amount of money. Roger Samuelson, school board president, said the board has learned that 5.2 mills would now raise the same amount.
Michelle Scott told the board she talked with many township residents at the time of the 8.1-mill levy and most residents would have voted for if it were just "cut down some."
Asked whether the revaluation could allow the school board to reduce the scope of the cuts school officials say they will need to make if the levy fails, Samuelson said he could not give an answer because of the uncertainty of funding from the state.
Officials had outlined an impact plan to cut costs by $974,106 that would be used if the levy fails. It includes personnel reductions of six classroom teaching positions, three aides, a part-time custodian and others; reduction in the technology budget, suspension of a bus purchase, elimination of the classroom furniture budget, reduced participation in the Trumbull Arts Academy, suspension of the teacher training budget, suspension of band instrument replacements, an increase in parking student parking fees, and the institution of a pay-to-play program.
That program would have band participants paying $150, middle school pupils $200 for unlimited sports participation, high school students $300 for unlimited sports and $350 for sports and band. Samuelson said the fees would be used to pay for the supplemental contracts of the coaches.