Thanks for the quick response!

I spent a couple of weeks preparing for the meeting last night so if I could summarize my comments to you then perhaps you could make them available to the other board members.

I live over in the new River's Pointe development which was Reed Farm by the green water tower with my wife and 11 year old son. So obviously I have a vested interest not only in the rate of my property taxes but also in the quality of the education of my son.

For starter's, I don't want this communication to be perceived a "bitch" session as this is entirely unproductive. Rather, I want to present facts from my research as the budget and school funding is a topic that affects us all.

The cost of education in this district, as in the rest of the state and country from what I have been reading is reaching a crisis point. It is not a simple matter now of people not wanting to pay their property taxes to fund local secondary education, rather it is a matter of people simply being unable to afford to pay any further increases in their property taxes. From an economic standpoint, it is not possible for most people to "out-earn" the inflation rate we are seeing in school taxes, county taxes, gas prices, healthcare premiums, ect. For the senior citizen, which makes up a large chunk of this school district, any further increases in property taxes will force many to sell their homes because they simply cannot afford $300 a month or more on their combined property taxes plus all of their other expenses.

In the past, residents were concerned about waste and frivolous spending in the school district on building project which the vast majority of residents were simply against, not because they didn't want "the best" for their children, rather because there simply must be spending limits. On a personal and corporate level, spending limits are real and those individuals and corporations which refuse to restrain themselves go bankrupt and out of business respectively. This is one issue which many residents of this school district are concerned about but I think we have even passed the point of cutting out the waste. We are now at the point were necessities will require further and further tax increases, increases which people simply have no money left to pay. Local businesses will suffer as the money residents had to buy their goods and services are being spent on school taxes. Those employers will then lay off their employees and those residents will move out of the district. And PRAY that no economic downturn happens! Rentals will dramatically increase in this school district as property taxes make home ownership unaffordable. I know several people who wanted to move into my development but refused to buy a new home simply because of the property taxes. If you think I am making this up, I know of several small businesses which are in the position to lay off their staffs or go out of business simply over taxes and their healthcare premiums, which is another critical topic. There is a point of non-affordability, which is different than profit stealing.

What I am trying to do here is say that the issue cannot be ignored. If it is, there will simply be no funding and taxpayers will be forced to ask the state/federal government to take over our local education. In fact, with No Child Left Behind, they already are! I am not part of the angry mob, however, the angry mob exists (I have spoken to them) and if this school district wishes to keep local education under the control of local government, a good hard look at school funding requires immediate attention by the school board. If this topic is ignored, NOBODY will like the outcome, I guarantee it!

From a funding standpoint, there are several options available, not all are desirable. First is act 72, which has been proven to increase our tax burden as the personal income tax increase will be greater than the property tax savings. Then we have the Commonwealth Caucus which seeks to eliminate only the school tax on properties leaving the county tax intact and fund the schools by expanding the sales tax to food and clothing. A step in the right direction by evenly distributing the tax burden but this will put a greater burden on lower income households but will benefit seniors who buy less goods and services. Then we have STOP (Stop Taxing Our Properties), which seeks to eliminate all property taxes by increasing the sales tax from 6% to 7% and a 1 1/2% income tax increase. Now the board rightly rejected act 72. However, the other two options need to be investigated further or "another" proposal on school funding made and investigated. I would be happy to assist in gathering information and doing research on this.

Finally, as a summary of what has been said above, the taxpayers of Muhlenberg Twp would like to see:

1. A real agenda item on the investigation of a "real" tax relief plan from the list above or other proposals

2. School district run as a business with real spending limits

3. A real controller with the ability to say No to frivolous spending

4. An open, itemized budget subject to independent review

5. Building project over a certain dollar amount subject to vote by residents

6. Salary increases and benefits packages for teachers and administrators on average with industry

Thanks for listening!

BTW, I made a webpage on my personal website where I am gathering all of the resources to try and solve this crisis. It's at the link below. There is a button on the tool bar called Property Taxes

Jim Rinker