Saturday, October 10, 2009

Letters About the West Bend School Budget

There are several letters to the editor in the Daily News regarding the budget/spending/tax increase for the West Bend School District.  Here are a few highlights:

This one is from Michael Schlotfeldt.  He is an Alderman and Chairman of the Washington County Democratic Party.

In all Superintendent Pat Herdrich’s and School Board President Joe Carlson’s comments over the years, as they tax us to the max over and over again, they not once have ever mentioned the importance of employee benefit reforms. They have not once talked about controlling health care costs.

   They give excuses about cuts in state aid and we have to raise taxes. As an alderman in the city of West Bend, we have had cuts in state aid year after year and never in my tenure did we ever raise taxes by such a huge amount. The city has not increased property taxes in the last two budgets.

   I do not think Pat Herdrich understands what is going on in the community. I invite her and the School Board members to look at the bulletin board at the entrance of city hall and look at:

   — All the bankruptcies and home foreclosures listed.

   — The double-digit unemployment that we have had for over a year now in the city.

   — The decline in private sector wages in the state of Wisconsin.

   — The fact that many of the manufacturing companies in the area have frozen wages.

   In these troubling economic times, raising taxes is not the solution. The constant excuses made by Pat Herdrich and Joe Carlson show that they are not the leaders needed at this time. I am sorry to my liberal friends, but even the chair of the local county Democratic Party thinks this was irresponsible.

This one is from Lisa Geib, a current teacher in the district.

O. Robinson stated, “The district ... must share the (economic) pain like everyone else.” It worries me that some residents are not thinking about who the cuts directly effect. Our students have been “sharing the pain” in the form of programming cuts for years. Our children, grandchildren, future taxpayers and citizens will suffer the consequences.

This one is from L.A. Hittman.  I don’t know who that is.  

There is frustration on both sides of this educational issue. Both sides have become critical of the other, and rightfully so. Yet we need to remember that this board is an elected body. This superintendent was hired, in principle, by the board that was elected by this community’s constituents.

   So it’s time for the “educational sector” to listen carefully to the community’s majority – and work together in a proactive atmosphere. Yes, things are not good and, yes, it will not get better for some time. And, yes, this economic environment will improve sometime.

   Do what you can, board and superintendent, with what you have – and don’t tell us how little we spend. Don’t tell us your peers have told you to leave the district.

   This board and the executive have pitted themselves against the community in what they say and how they react to opposing opinion.

(6) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1615 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. L,A, Hittman - there was a Lance Hittman that was on the School Board in 2006.  Maybe it is him.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 10, 2009 at 1638 hrs


  2. wow

    The Democratic party of Washington has a short bench if this is the leader

    need to check if I paid my dues

    I Need to be current before I tell Michael that mentioning his title in this article
    associates a political party with his opinions-a really bad idea.

    And his personal opinions- especially about Dr. Herdrich- are ill informed and myopic.

    Otherwise- it was a brilliant letter.

    Mark Maley
    Left Leaning- but stable

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 10, 2009 at 1728 hrs


  3. Finally someone in goverment gets it.  Congradulation to Michael Schlotfeldt for a well written letter and dead on reasoning. We the people that are against a tax increase don’t hate children we just have nothing left to give.  You can’t keep raising taxes when our income is going down. We all have to cut back and that include the school system.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 11, 2009 at 0824 hrs


  4. Don’t know if Alderman Schlotfeldt owns any property in the City of West Bend, so the next best thing I could do is a tax lookup on the property listed as his official residence on the City website.  It is a home owned by a Larry Schlotfeldt (the mortgage is in the names of Larry & Marilyn Schlotfeldt).
    According to 2004 tax bill, the City tax was $1460.54 & in 2008 it was $1614.14 (11% increase).  The 2004 school tax was $1098.45 & the 2008 school tax was $1167.09 (6% increase).  The overall tax bill for 2004 was $3362.72 and for 2008 it was $3562.79 (6% increase over 4 years - average 1.5% increase per annum).

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 11, 2009 at 0949 hrs


  5. Also adding to the equation is unemployment, which has soared in the four years.  And don’t forget the teachers and admin’s raises have soared as well…

    But I digress…

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 11, 2009 at 1158 hrs


  6. What do you consider “soared” for teachers’ raises?  They are QEO’ed.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 12, 2009 at 2204 hrs


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