STATISTICS

Board president Donna Mistler is claiming to anyone who will listen (and who will not challenge her) that our enourmous tax increase somehow is a result of us not having tax increases for many years.   What is the truth?

By increasing taxes beyond need, the district had collected a reserve of 1.4 million dollars when superintendent Bailey came here in 1992.  The following year we did not have a tax increase because they spent 0.4 million of that reserve was spent instead. So while it is true that there was not a tax increase that very year, the money in that reserve was a result of tax increases in previous years. A fact that Mrs. Mistler apparently does not understand.

   The last year we did not have a tax increase was in 1999 when another 0.4 million of the fund balance was spent. The 1.4 million dollar reserve is spent now, and after the .58 million of phantom money in the books was written off we now have a negative balance. There might have been a few years that they spent money collected in previous years but there was only one   year when they did not increase spending.

 Year               SPENDING

1991-92                    8,695,053

1992-93                    8,835,687

1993-94                    9,295,218

1994-95                    9,958,459

1995-96                    10,344,007

1996-97                    10,418,895

1997-98                    10,650,994

1998-99                    10,819,414

1999-0                        11,207,051

2000-01                    11,603,994

2001-02                    11,900,774

2002-03                    11,875,245

2003-04                    12,940,696

2004-05                    13,160,491

The only year that there was a miniscule reduction in spending was 2002-03 but instead of cutting your taxes that year. They INCREASED the taxes with 20%! As a result they overtaxed you beyond need with $326,306. I am proud for being the only board member who voted against implementing that tax increase.

PAST TAXATION

Below some tax figures from the past. The school establishment often claim that our taxation is low. It is not if you compare it to the inflation rate. Pay increases are often linked to the inflation rate. If your school taxes exceed your pay increases then you have to get by with less.                                

Year                  Tax increase      Inflation rate

2001                 8.1%                 1.6%

2002              20.0%                  2.4%

2003                 3.8%                 1.9%

2004                 8.4%                 3.3%                

2005               24.9%                  3.0% (Feb-Feb)