This Just In...
Kevin Fischer is an award-winning veteran broadcaster who has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for nearly three decades.
Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, “INTERchange,” on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Franklin.
If you're a Franklin School Board member...
By Kevin Fischer
Tuesday, Oct 14 2008, 07:28 PM
You’ve got to be feeling pretty good these days.
Why? Because with the exception of an occasional blog or John Neville FranklinNOW piece, no one is paying attention to the Franklin School Board. That has to be some measure of relief for the board that was under heavy criticism this time last year for bungling the entire budget process that resulted in a 12.7% school tax levy increase.
Did you check out your October City of Franklin newsletter? Tucked inside is a message from Franklin School Board President Dave Szychlinkski that says, in part, “At this time, we still don’t know the exact level of revenue that we will receive from the state…”
Yeh, yeh, yeh, we hear this every single year. School districts with both hands shoved in the state’s face want more and more and more and play the woe-is-me card as they jack up taxes through the roof.
Szychlinkski continues, “But we have approved a tax levy increase of 3.7%. Even if state revenue falls short of our expectations, the board is committed to sticking to a total levy increase of 3.7%.”
Some observations:
1) Last year, the Franklin School Board used the same argument that state aid was uncertain, and said the tax levy would go up over 5%. This year, the level of state aid is still in doubt, but despite that fact, the board has approved and is committed to a tax levy increase of just 3.7%.
2) It’s not that I don’t trust this board. It’s just that I don’t trust this board.
3) Last October we were promised the levy would be over 5%. Later, I reported on my blog that the levy increase was actually 12.7% (To be fair, I note that current members David Works and Linda Witkowski were not on the board last fall).
I do hold out hope that this time the board will be more honest. If they can hold that levy increase to 3.7%, that’s obviously a major improvement from last year’s atrocity. Add that to a city budget that could see an increase of just 3%, or possibly less if the Common Council makes some adjustments, and finally Franklin taxpayers will get the breaks they deserve.
