Dear Editor,
Once again Mr. Chartrand has misunderstood the operation of the OACSD. He commented last week that the school claims to have reduced teaching positions yet hired new teachers. He is confusing positions with the people occupying them. Example: In 2009 the music faculty numbered nine positions occupied by nine teachers. In the first big cut, one of the positions was cut and one teacher was laid off, leaving eight positions occupied by eight teachers. Subsequently, one of the remaining eight teachers resigned resulting in eight positions occupied by seven teachers. A replacement was then hired for the 8th position. Result: eight teachers in eight positions. Still a reduction of one position from nine to eight. Just as claimed. Similar changes have been made in other departments. The reduction in positions remains.
It was also interesting to read his thought that although the tax levy has risen by only 1 percent or so per year that the actual bill increased 30 percent. Mathematically impossible due to just the levy change. Possible if the assessment and/or the equalization rate changed as happened to people in the Town of Nichols. But that wasn’t caused by the school district’s actions. The towns do the assessing and the state sets the equalization rates. Place the blame where it belongs Joe.
A few weeks ago Mr. Chartrand urged a no vote if the levy increase exceeded the tax cap. The tax cap for the OACSD this year is 5.32 percent. The initial budget proposal is to increase the levy by 3.95 percent. Under the cap. Why isn’t Mr. Chartrand happy?
Your tax bill is public information. Anyone can look it up. So I did. If you go to www.taxlookup.net you can view how much everyone’s OACSD tax bill was from 2007 through 2014. Mine went from $5,231 in 2007 to $5,678 in 2014. This is an average of a 1.18 percent per year increase. Quite reasonable. The Chartrand’s bill on the other hand went from $5,927 in 2007 to $4,914 in 2014. Down $1,013. Enough said.
Sincerely,
Richard Ives
Owego, N.Y.
