Thursday, April 30, 2009
Liberty school board must recognize bad times
EDITOR:
Hardly a day passes without an announcement by a local or national company that some of their employees will lose their jobs. We have watched employment at Delphi Packard and GM Lordstown dwindle to a fraction of what it once was. Those remaining have had to make benefit and wage concessions to save their jobs.
Government employees including safety forces have been asked to make concessions to save jobs or face layoffs. More people are losing health care benefits at a time when prescription drugs and health care cost are skyrocketing. Reports show an increasing number of people unable to afford medical care or refill prescriptions. Utility and food costs rise almost monthly.
In the face of this economic crisis, the incredibly out-of-touch Liberty Township school board is asking voters to increase property tax payments by $25 a month for each $100,000 of property valuation. It’s not enough that the township has the highest tax rate in the county, the board wants it even higher. One wonders what the unemployed, under-employed and seniors on fixed incomes would have to sacrifice in order to meet this additional financial burden.
Given the fact that over 14 percent of the county’s residents are unemployed and that almost everyone that is still working has had to make financial and benefits concessions to save their jobs, it’s time that school administrators, teachers and non-teaching employees face reality and recognize they too, must make concessions. The well has run dry.
ROBERT F. MOLLIC
Liberty Township