Over 2 Million and 600 Hundred Thousand Dollars

During the last eight years, Gary Lake and the rest of the District 22 School Board has taken over $2,600,000.00 in excess school bond taxes from the citizens of District 22.  They have set the tax rate almost 50% higher than necessary so they could reach into your wallets and pocketbooks to take more money than they needed; just to build up a bank account balance.  They think it makes them look good.  Each year for the last 8 years, Gary Lake and the rest of the School Board has voted to take more tax money from you; the citizens of the District, than is needed to pay the school bond that the voters approved in 2004.  Did the voters who approved the bond in 2004 get any say in being overtaxed?  No, Gary Lake and the rest of the District 22 School Board just decided to take more money from every citizen without telling the voters they were going to do it.  Are you outraged?  Well you should be!

In last week’s letter to the editor in the Ranchland News, Gary Lake tries to put a sugar coating on this fact by saying we have “A healthy bond redemption fund”.  What we have is an inflated ego from the very person who wants to continue taxing every tax payer over 50% more than necessary.  What we have is an inflated ego that wants to continue to take YOUR money with no regard to how hard you must work to earn it.  What we have is someone who wants you to let him stay on the school board for another 2 years so he can continue to take your money.

You don’t need a financial degree to look at the District 22 reports (they are online at the district WEB page) and see that the bond redemption account has a very large balance.  You don’t need a financial degree to understand that the bond redemption account should have a near zero balance, as the money taken in from taxes should equal the money paid out to reduce the bond. When you see that over $2,600,000.00 Dollars of your taxes is just sitting in a bank account, not helping the school system in any way, you should at least ask why?  

 Suddenly, out of thin air Gary Lake is now saying he and the rest of the District 22 school board were over taxing you for your own good.  They were taking all this extra money from you to keep you from having to pay a little bond interest over the next 10 years.  They say that you didn’t need to know about this because you would not understand. 

I think you would understand what they were doing….They were doing it to you!

If you want your taxes reduced to the minimum level needed please vote for Hudson, Clemons’ and Gary Dahn for the school board.  They have all pledged that they will lower your taxes…the other candidates ….well they haven’t said anything.

My Proposed Salary Scale for Ellicott Teachers

I am proposing a new salary scale for the teachers at Ellicott.  All of them are very dedicated and try their best to teacher the students the foundations of education so they will be successful in adult life.  As a community we should reward their efforts.

Proposed School District Salary Schedule
Step	BA	BA+15	BA+30	MA	MA+30	MA+45	PHD
1	32,000	33,000	34,400	36,800	39,200	41,600	44,000
2	32,000	33,000	34,400	36,800	39,200	41,600	44,000
3	32,000	33,000	34,400	36,800	39,200	41,600	44,000
4	32,000	33,000	34,400	36,800	39,200	41,600	44,000
5	33,200	34,200	35,600	38,000	40,400	42,800	45,200
6			36,800	39,200	41,600	44,000	46,400
7			38,000	40,400	42,800	45,200	47,600
8			39,200	41,600	44,000	46,400	48,800
9			40,400	42,800	45,200	47,600	50,000
10			41,600	44,000	46,400	48,800	51,200
11				45,200	47,600	50,000	52,400
12				46,400	48,800	51,200	53,600
13				47,600	50,000	52,400	54,800
14				48,800	51,200	53,600	56,000
15				50,000	52,400	54,800	57,200
16					53,600	56,000	58,400
17					54,800	57,200	59,600
18					56,000	58,400	60,800
19					57,200	59,600	62,000
20					58,400	60,800	63,200
21						62,000	64,400
22						63,200	65,600
23						64,400	66,800
24						65,600	68,000
25						66,800	69,200

School District taking 50% more in taxes than necessary.

Your current District 22 School Board is taking more money in taxes than needed.  The School board has purposely set the tax rate almost 50% higher than the amount needed to make the existing bond payment.  Every property owner in the district is now paying almost 50% more property tax than necessary.

The School District has been collecting more money than necessary for the last 8 years according to an email from the district finance officer. 

This year Mary Anna Clemmons and Ernest Hudson (two individuals running for the school board), began asking questions about the existing 2004 school bond.  No one could or would answer the questions at first, and both Mary Anna and Ernest Hudson continued to dig into the problem.  What they discovered was that  the tax payers in the District have been paying almost 50% more in taxes than the amount required tomake the bond payments.  The school district has been collecting almost 50% more in taxes than was needed for the last 8 years.  Now after several months of not saying anything, the board is saying that it was the plan all along.  It was done so they could pay off the existing bond early.  I don’t think so.  How many voters do you know that would say “take more money than necessary in taxes, and think about paying off the bond in ten or twelve years?  When you go to the gas pump, do you want to pay almost 50% more for the fuel?  When you go to the grocery store, do you want to pay almost 50% more for the food in the hope you might save some money in ten  years or so?

This is just one of the many reasons why this school board should be replaced. 

If I am elected to the board, I promise to vote to stop the over payments, and lower your property taxes by almost $240 per year for the next 8 years.  If you vote for the new bond to build the new middle school, your taxes would go down by about $170 per year for the next 20 years, and we would be able to build the new middle school.

This is a far better deal than the “no higher tax statement that the current board is now making Using their mind set your taxes will not go up if you vote for the new bond.  Of course it will not go up, because they are already taking 50% more than they need…but they plan on continuing to do that for the next 20 years...