Speedway, Wayne Schools Feel Financial Squeeze

Vonda Kiger, Clermont Town Councilor.

Photo by Linda Karn

(posted Mar 28)

For the first time in many years, Speedway School Board is looking to borrow about $3.2 million and pay $60,000 in interest to make summer's payroll.

Superintendent Ken Hull gave a brief summation of the school's financial situation at State Representative Phil Hinkle's town hall March 27 meeting. Hull blamed the 2007 reassessment for putting the financial squeeze on the school. The school relies on tax distributions in June and in December, but the reassessment has delayed the distributions.

The 2007 reassessment final reconciliation statements have not been sent to taxpayers, nor the 2008 tax statements. Hinkle said rebate checks would be sent with the billing statement or credited to the next cycle.

According to Hinkle, the reconciliation is due in July. The Spring 2008 statements are not expected to be sent to property owners until October, payable in November, and fall statements by the end of 2008, payable in early 2009. Hinkle hopes the 2009 cycle will return to normalcy of May 10 and November 10.

Tom Copeland said the Wayne Township School Board is suffering with the same problem. He said it is the state pushing the debt down onto the local government entities forcing them to borrow with the Indiana Bond Bank. The bond bank waits for a collection of local governments to pool together to sell a bigger issuance to receive a lower rate.

Hull explained the Indiana Bond Bank then sells these bond issues on the open market. Copeland said the taxpayer is being doubled dip because they are having to make up the shortfall from the late tax distributions and money is being pocketed by private banks.

Hull said he appreciated Hinkle's efforts to carry the message not to consolidate Speedway Schools. Hull said a little more than 50 percent of the public schools have less than 2,000 students.

Consolidation of Speedway was the third highest issue floating around the statehouse. Speedway Schools represent 37 percent of the property taxes while Wayne Township Schools are in excess of 50 percent, illustrating Speedway's efficiencies in running its operations. Hinkle said he received over 400 letters from Speedway students, even on issues other than consolidation. Hinkle again stressed that he would fight consolidation to the very end and that creating a charter school system would not be necessary to maintain a school system in Speedway. The Speedway Navigator raised the issue as an alternative to prevent the six school buildings from being vacant if consolidation passed.

Hinkle explained the funding system differs for charter schools than public schools. He said that not all of the taxes are collected every year, but charter schools receive 100 percent of their funding while public schools receive their ratio of what is collected. However, charter schools do not receive funding for transportation or capital improvements.

Hinkle also informed people to look for a referendum on the ballot whether or not to retain the township assessor. The Decatur Township Assessor was eliminated because it has less than 15,000 parcels.

Susan Blair said the township assessors' salaries are "minuscule" and do not have an impact on the tax rate. She said schools operations have a bigger impact on the tax bill than the assessors.

Alice McCauley requested Hinkle to draft legislation to prohibit eating in cars for safety reasons if cell phones were going to be banned. Connecticut and Chicago have banned drivers from using cell phones. She wanted fast food drive thru restaurants to be charged an additional tax to cover the litter that people toss from their cars after they eat. She expressed her frustration about paying an additional sales tax to cover the sports stadium.

She also informed Hinkle that it is difficult to find state maps at rest areas since the governor has cut map printing production to every other year. She thinks the governor's plan may be hurting tourism business. She said the maps are only available if requested at the information desk. However, she said the desks are not always staffed.

Other concerns were to require fence enclosures around retentions ponds to prevent cars from sliding into ponds and causing deaths. Hinkle said that it is a local issue and would refer it to County Councilor Bob Lutz.

Some constituents wanted to know about property tax rebate checks. Hinkle said rebate checks would be sent with the billing statement or credited to the next cycle. Vonda Kiger, Clermont Town Councilor, told the audience that she has already received her rebate check but another resident said she has not received hers despite paying the 2007 bill and not the 2006 amount. Kiger sent a doctor's letter to the council on Feb 14 stating she would need to take a six month leave of absence.