The board of education recently approved a 3.4 percent salary increase for Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Binkowski. Her salary has been set at $144,990 for the 2008-09 fiscal year. How do you think she is doing at managing Plainville Community Schools?
Budget
It's stupid. Why have a vote when town officials do whatever they want?
And the voter turnout is pitiful. People have no right to moan and groan when the mil rate goes up because they haven't even cared enough to vote.
Plainville budget process
As far as I am concerned, the Plainville budget process is the most absurd (meaningless, irrational, ridiculous ) part of the town charter. I also believe that it is unconstitutional and is void of any semblance to common sense. How can the will and 3rd budget vote of the taxpaying voters be completely ignored and discarded? Some council members said that they were surprised that the first budget was defeated because they didn't see an organized effort to defeat the budget and that not many people came to speak the day before the vote. I can supply some answers to these queries! After dozens of taxpayers spoke to the council about how tough things are getting finacially, council woman Szach said that she wanted more money in the B.O.E. budget.How is this for being deaf and insulting to the people who put her in office. It is my wish that she would do Plainville a huge favor and resign from the council. Next up is the chairman Wazorko, who said that he didn't want to see any layoffs. When you are in budget negotiations everything should be on the table. With Wazorko's attitude the taxpayers are already losers in the budget process.So, I ask, why would anyone want to waste their time, energy and gas on a trip to town hall and speak to deaf ears? The voters are tired of this nonsense, they did their speaking in the voting booth. One can only hope that the deadbeat, non voters will be affected financially enough by the incompentence of the ear plugged council members to get off their lazy rear ends, forget about name recognition and vote the boneheaded fools out of office in the next election.
How do the taxpayers like the false front put up by the Democrats on the council when they acted upset by the kick in the teeth from the B.O.E. concerning the outrageous administration raises and the hiring of a new business mananger. I believe that this was nothing more than an act because then they and their party elected the leader of the teeth kickers ( Mr. Ringrose ) as an officer of their political party committee.
It is apparent that this council will not be interested in fixing budget voting defects in the town charter so the only hope for Plainville is to vote the deaf ones out of office.
Didn't we go thur all this
Didn't we go thur all this last year?
Three times I voted, and three times I was ignored. Along with the voting majority.
Why bother voting, if the council can do what it wants anyway?
Yet I still see a lot of the same names in the council.
Maybe next time, people will clean house and get some leaders that actually care about what the people want.
It's past time for the town of Plainville to wake up.
I can't believe the
I can't believe the animosity expressed here. No one wants taxes to go up. Everyone is operating on a leaner purse. Here are volunteers acting on behalf of the town, who every year get harassed when the budget comes up. Folks are very good at complaining - and a noble few do so through their votes - but do nothing to offer "actionable" alternatives. The Council is responsible for putting forth a fiscally responsible budget that allows the town to operate. That is what they are in office to do. I would not under any circumstance want to leave the budget as open-ended or passing at the same level as many citizens are advicating. That jeopardizes the community and creates employment risk for anyone interested in coming to the community. And the budget is being defeated by what? 8 - 9% of the total voting population? I do not want such a minority making budget decisions for the town. If individuals are unhappy with the budget put forth by a Council - which again, is responsible for establishing a responsible budget - efforts should be to put others on the Council. Again, I don't want my taxes to increase - I'm living paycheck-to-paycheck right now. But I also know the cuts required to hold to a no tax increase is unreasonable. Can not nickle-and-dime those types of cuts - they would need to be significant. And I can not offer any alternative, so I will continue to support ihs budget and the process. It's in the best interest of the town.
anonymous writer
animosity? get real. the majority rules and they want cuts to the board of education. the administrator and teacher salaries are killing the taxpayers. what would you say if your small majority passed the budget? I suppose that then everything would be okay.
NOT anonymous to the citizen!!
Very well,put.......
Very well,put.......
Town Budget vote
Hard times call for hard decisions. The last 14 budget votes were rejected.
What part of no does Plainville not understand? Residents are making the hard decisions every day. Do I give up health insurance or my medications? Do I pay my mortgage or do I pay my taxes?
Let’s get real people! Do the right thing.
Most agree the town side of budget we can live with.
Focus on Board of education's side of budget.
Do not approach them from bottom up with menial cuts. They should be looked at from the top down. Do they really need that many administrators, vice principals, etc.Did they have to jump and hire a new financial manager when the town was considering looking for options to merge this position. Did they really need that incredible increase in salaries?
I am sure that if the Board of Educations budget was more transparent the council would be better able to cut a substantial amount from the budget.
Surrounding towns are doing more with less why are we not able to do so?
As far as the low turn out – people are disgusted after voting 14 times and not having their vote in Plainville count for anything. In the future if the vote is not taken as a mandate for meaningful cuts to the budget, you will soon get to a point where the citizens of Plainville will be boycotting the budget vote entirely. Yes my friends no one will vote on your budget.
Don’t be a puppet – be your own person and do what is needed to reduce this budget.
In reading through these,
In reading through these, until we are able to get maybe somewhere north of 15-20% of voter turnout, I would hardly consider the results of the votes as a majority of town opinion, with less than 8% of registered voters coming out. The results do represent "majority" of those that came out to vote, but who knows if it reflects the opinions of the town - folks tend to say nothing when satisfied about the status quo. And it is even shameful that we would even settle for 15-20% to represent a majority. Too bad apathy or satisfaction with how things are results in folks not voting. The results of a high voter turnout would send a strong message. So regardless of how folks vote, I appreciate anyone taking the time to vote - such a privilege to have the opportunity to express an opinion by voting.
budget process
I personally don't like the "three strikes, you're out" process. If Plainville wishes to have a limited number of tries at the budget to keep costs down (which makes sense at $3,000 per poll), then the Council should be forced by the charter to decrease the budget when it has been rejected. This business of returning the rejected budget back to the people is a slap in the face to each person who took the time to vote.
As for those taxpayers who don't exert themselves to vote, they deserve exactly what they get - other people making the decisions for them.
Reply to comment about teacher salaries
As an educator, I take offense at your remark about teacher salaries "killing the taxpayers." For all we do for these children (in some cases caring more than the parents), we are underpaid. I can truly say this because I worked in the private sector for 14 years before going back to school for teaching. Our salary increases each year are on par with the cost of living. I just thought I'd share the following with you so maybe you'll have a better appreciation for what we do:
Have you heard about the next planned "Survivor" show?
Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped into an elementary school classroom for 1 school year. The business people will be provided with a copy of their school district's curriculum and a class of 28 - 32 students.
Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.
All business people must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, spend a good deal of their own money, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences.
They must also stand in the doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways. In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month.
They must attend workshops, faculty meetings, and attend curriculum development meetings They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get the 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take all of the state tests.
If the business person is sick or having a bad day, he/she must not let it show. Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program and must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times.
If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible. The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they may not be able to afford it.
There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their workday. The business people will be permitted to use a student restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.
If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before or after school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies. The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time.
The winner of this season's of "Survivor" will be allowed to return to his/her job.
Thanks for allowing me to get my "two cents" in.
voter turn out
These people who say the voter turn out is not enough to justify what the voters really want must have a serious mental defect. the voters who do come out and vote are the ones who care about Plainville and their voice is a mandate. anyone who argues differently is not practicing what the government of this country is all about! I would bet the farm that if the budget passed by one vote, these cry babies would be saying the voters have spoken. I think that Plainville needs a new town council and board of Education with some backbone. The comments from some of the council members shows that they are out of touch with reality and have to go. I hope that the voters remember this when it is time to elect a council who is willing to represent the taxpayers. As proven by the voting results, NO always means, NO is TOO HIGH!!!!!
teacher woes
It sounds to me like the teacher is overwhelmed in their profession!! I think that you should go back to the private sector if teaching is such a chore for you. Let me tell you something, if you think that you have it rough, I built the nice climate controlled buildings that you work in. Our thanks was, when the job was complete, if our company didn't have another job we got layed off. when we wanted a vacation we were told to take what we could afford. Holidays, sure we got them but without pay. I would have to work at least 2000 hours a year to earn the money a high school music teacher makes for putting in 180 days in school. I had a chance to become involved in teaching but I decided to work on building nice safe and comfortable buildings for the kiddies and teachers. I am not complaining about my profession and I wouldn't give up my aching back and creaky knees for all the money you make because I couldn't stand to be associated with a bunch of cry babies that don't know when they are well off.
Re: Reply to comment about teacher salaries
You wrote:
"Our salary increases each year are on par with the cost of living."
You should be happy you get an automatic cost of living adjustment each year. I don't. Most people who work in the private sector don't.
In order to stay in business, the company I work for can't afford salary increases. The price of everything keeps rising while my pay stays the same, so now I have to get a second job to make ends meet.
If you're a municipal employee, and the taxpayers vote against raising property taxes to pay your salary increase, perhaps the taxpayers don't think that you need the increase.
RE: all comments on teacher's salary
In the post for Town Budget there was no mention of teachers. We seem to be getting off the point that was made. Looking at the budget from top down would start from the administrators – principals- vice principals – finance managers – etc. and any body else involved in the business end of running our schools.
Although we may have a very few teachers that may not be truly dedicated to teaching our children, for the most part these are truly dedicated people who deserve our praise and support.
Money should be cut from the business of running the schools and invested in good teachers that will give our children a good start in life.
The town Budget post was not meant to bash teachers. Please get back to the subject, which is -
Let’s look at our needs and reduce our wants.
Reduce the cost of the budget and doing business.
such a hard job
Wish you educators(teachers) would stop whinning,You are like politictions,never did an honest days work for the tax payers money.Suck it up.stop whinning and continue mission.....my pockets are empty.If you feel under appreciated here..then move on by all means.Your Super just got another nice hike in pay,if I am not mistaken ,she received a 10k raise just this past spring.By the way.while you are on your summer vacation i am working overtime just to pay my taxes.
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