{"id":101160,"date":"2024-04-12T09:59:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T13:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=101160"},"modified":"2024-04-12T09:59:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T13:59:39","slug":"letter-blindsided-and-sandbagged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2024\/04\/12\/letter-blindsided-and-sandbagged\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter: Blindsided and Sandbagged"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Dear Editor,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Believe it or not, this is true and OACSD Taxpayers need to know this. The OACSD Board of Education budget for School Year 2025 (July 2025 \u2013 June 2026) is the biggest stinker ever and the BOE\u2019s financial advisor tells them they are making substantial profits off the taxpayer.&nbsp;BT BOCES uses the word \u201cPROFIT\u201d, and there are no dividends!&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What is proposed can\u2019t be explained to the taxpayer.&nbsp;The BOE presentations of Jan. 22, March 11, and March 25 leave out the essentials.&nbsp;Further, they don\u2019t make sense when understood. Is there a hidden agenda?&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Key information was withheld so as to make the case for an increase of property taxes by precisely 1.99%. The three new BOE members have been totally blindsided and sandbagged in order to prevent their due diligence in the budget process. Budget materials are withheld until just before the BOE meeting.&nbsp;The three newbies work for a living and have families.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Follow this: As of 30 June 2024, the BOE\u2019s piggy bank holds $13,942,996; July 1 the BOE withdraws $698,032 from the piggy bank; July 1 the BOE raises property taxes 1.9999%, adding $356,214 to the piggy bank; June 30, 2025 the BOE adds 2025 surplus (profit) of ~$2,000,000 to the piggy bank; June 30, 2025 the BOE adds the missing revenue ~$600,000 to the piggy bank.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Do the math: $13,942,996 &#8211; $698,032 + $356,214 + $2,000,000 + $600,000 = $16,201,178, or Piggy Bank beginning balance + 2024 Budget underrun \u2013 2025 withdrawal + 2025 property tax increase + unaccounted for revenues + 2025 Budget underrun = Piggy Bank 2025 ending balance. The Piggy Bank is stuffed with another $2,258,182 on top of your property tax increase.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The BOE\u2019s financial advisor identifies the 2024 $1,852,665 underrun as PROFIT. Yes, OACSD is turning a PROFIT and paying you no dividends. For 2023 the BOE turned a $2,726,677 PROFIT.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Both the 2023 and 2024 budget underruns can each cover the budget increase. The budgets are flawed because every succeeding year is built on a bad budget. Hence, endlessly flawed budgets.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For three years we have had a 0% property tax increase.&nbsp;The BOE\u2019s underlying financial position is considerably better than the years before, so a 0% property tax remains appropriate.&nbsp;The proposed 1.99% tax increase is simply for the crafting of public expectations.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Governor Hochul has stated that schools have too much money.&nbsp;OACSD is defined as a public charity.&nbsp;It is illegal for a charity to hoard funds.&nbsp;The BOE is hoarding your money with reason and hoarding and withholding $2,800,000 of scholarship money.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">All this is found in OACSD\u2019s financial matters. Ask a BOE member or the Superintendent. OACSD should be in the business of intellectual profit.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Concerned,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Haig McNamee<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Owego, N.Y.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Editor, Believe it or not, this is true and OACSD Taxpayers need to know this. The OACSD Board of Education budget for School Year&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":82352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Letter: Blindsided and Sandbagged - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2024\/04\/12\/letter-blindsided-and-sandbagged\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letter: Blindsided and Sandbagged - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Editor, Believe it or not, this is true and OACSD Taxpayers need to know this. 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