Public Notice Correction -- MSD Wayne Township

Today's Indy Star has a correction to the MSD Wayne Township Annual Financial Report previously published. Corrected are data listed in the comparison of approved vs. actual expenditures for 2009.

Also posted in the public notice section is the Annual Financial Report for Carmel Clay Schools.

Decatur School Board Pulls Superintendent's Arse Out of the Fire

Nearly one month after 3 Administrators retired from the MSD Decatur Township school district with wads of cash, extra years of service purchased from the State Teacher Retirement Fund, and a promise of paid health insurance until Medicare picks them up - all clearly prohibited by School Board policy and not a part of any contract - the School Board ratified the unilateral action by Superintendent, Don Stinson.

Remember these names -- Dale Henson, Don Huffman, Doug Greenwald, Judy Collins, and Cathy Wiseman.

I have called them a rubber stamping school board numerous times. But, to continue to do so is to do a disservice to rubber stamping school boards everywhere. They are eyeball deep in fiscal recklessness that makes their past behavior pale in comparison and should make every taxpayer in Decatur Township extremely nervous.

Dale Henson, Don Huffman, Doug Greenwald, Judy Collins, and Cathy Wiseman are now equal players with Don Stinson in running our school district into the ground. For the second time this month, the school board has unanimously approved unilateral action taken by the Superintendent without prior board approval. For the second time this month, the school board has unanimously thrown fiscal responsibility out the window, making the fiscal morass we are in far far worse than even I imagined it could or would be.

For this post I will discuss the action taken last Thursday, July 29, 2010, at a special meeting of the Board. Just as I speculated (see "Suddenly - Decatur School Board Calls Special Session"), the purpose of that meeting was to legalize the retirement packages given by Don Stinson to retiring Administrators Jeff Baer, Dave Rather, Pat Jones, Gary Pellico, and Janet Larch.

I have already shared with you the retirement package information (see "Decatur Administrator Severance Packages Really Sweet") that amounted to over $800,000 this year and, additionally, up to $100,000 in coming years for ongoing health insurance costs. I also shared with you the 2004 Board policy that specifically banned this type of retirement package (see "Decatur Administrator Severance Packages in Contradiction of School Board Policy"). This was part of a statewide effort to become more fiscally responsible and buy out the retirement promises made in contracts, but for which no money had been set aside. It cost Decatur taxpayers at least $8 million to buy out these unfunded liabilities.


But, Don Stinson gave his retiring pals some great parting gifts anyway. And the school board unanimously pulled his arse out of the fire, tossed the taxpayers arses into the fire, and approved these retirement packages - EVEN THOUGH 3 of the 5 LEFT THE DISTRICT nearly a MONTH before.


The agenda for Thursday's meeting simply said "Staff Report". Surprise Decatur. Not only did they approve Stinson's unilateral action, they increased the severance package for Jeff Baer by $1000, and for Gary Pellico by a whopping $22,030.66. Nice job Dale Henson, Don Huffman, Doug Greenwald, Judy Collins, and Cathy Wiseman.

We can't afford to keep Lynwood open as an elementary school, thereby increasing class sizes, but we can give these 5 people over $800,000 as a parting gift -- on top of the contract buyouts we paid for in 2004-2005 -- on top of the money we have been putting into the Indiana State Teacher Retirement Fund for them every year since -- on top of the money we have put into three other retirement funds for each of them every year since -- and which was rightly banned by School Board policy and which was not a contractual obligation.

Remember this Decatur taxpayers. Remember this Decatur parents.

Remember these names: Dale Henson, Don Huffman, Doug Greenwald, Judy Collins, Cathy Wiseman, and Don Stinson.

Below are the retirement packages awarded, as reported in the Resolution adopted Thursday:

	Added ISTRF Contribution	Health Insurance	Life Insurance
Baer	$149,966.50	$19,284 / yr	$365.00 / yr
Rather	167,733.55	16,428 / yr	365.00 / yr
Jones	160,727.87	16,428 / yr	365.00 / yr
Pellico	170,472.14	16,428 / yr	365.00 / yr
Larch	100,895.36	19,284 / yr	n/a

School Town of Speedway - Annual Financial Report Hits the Paper

The public notices in today's Indy Star include the Annual Financial Report for the Speedway school district.

This notice includes tons of information - covering 2009, the number and salary range of administrators, non-certified staff salary ranges, teacher salaries plus extra-curricular compensation, a comparison of the budgeted expenses and how much was actually spent, tax rates for 2009 and 2010, a list of all vendors who were paid over $2500, a list of debt, budgeted vs. actual revenues, and school enrollment by grade level.

Property Tax Cap Credits - 2010 Impact on School Districts

This is the last in the series looking at the tax cap impact on taxing units in Marion County. Thanks again to Marion County Treasurer, Mike Rodman, and Deputy Administrator, Cindy Land, for their help in obtaining the data.

The table below lists the property tax levy (the amount of revenue from property taxes that the Department of Local Government Finance certified for 2010) for each District, the circuit breaker credit (also called the tax cap credit) data from the Marion County Treasurer's office, and finally the % column, which I calculated by dividing the circuit breaker credit by the property tax levy.

	LEVY	Circuit Breaker Credits	%
IPS	$120,232,632	$13,128,883	10.9%
Decatur	19,475,910	2,387,662	12.3%
Franklin	33,246,782	8,146,195	24.5%
Lawrence	42,914,503	2,312,898	5.4%
Perry	29,831,413	647,927	2.2%
Pike	40,050,402	802,420	2.0%
Warren	28,128,063	783,150	2.8%
Washington	28,439,655	34,526	0.1%
Wayne	40,230,876	5,373,183	13.4%
Beech Grove	9,271,971	2,645,875	28.5%
Speedway	2,202,088	22,708	1.0%

The Beech Grove school district leads the way with 28.5% of the property tax levy awarded as tax credits, followed closely by the Franklin Township district at 24.5%.

According to the DLGF, any school district that sees its tax cap credits amount to more than 2%, is eligible to apply for a Levy Replacement Grant, which is administered by the Department of Education. The Grant pool appropriated by the General Assembly for this year is $35 million.

Budget Notice - Wayne Township Government

There is a public notice in today's Indianapolis Star for Wayne Township Government. This appears to be the second time it has been published.

From a total estimated budget for 2011 of $27,350,000, they note a maximum levy from property taxes of $22,000,000 - up from $19,258,286 this year. The Township Board will have a hearing at 6:00 pm, August 12, at 5401 W. Washington Street. The Board is expected to vote on the final budget on September 9th.

Budget Notices Hitting the Press - H&H, Wayne, Washington and Perry School Districts

The budget season is descending upon us. Governmental units are beginning to advertise their budgets and property tax rates in the paper, a legally required step in the public process. I missed it in the paper the other day, but Health & Hospitals has posted a notice that currently appears in the online IndyStar.com public notice section. One aside about the online version of these notices - they aren't worth the electrons they are printed on. The online version abstains from the use of any traditional formatting, like paragraphs, tables, and sometimes even spaces - allowing numbers to run into one another in an indecipherable gibberish. So, you might want to pick up a paper version if you want to view a particular notice.

Back to the H&H notice - it was published on 7/30 and it appears it will be published yet again on 8/6.

I just pulled my old Friday paper and found the notice. H&H will hold a public hearing at 1:30 pm, August 10, "at Wishard Hospital, 1001 W. 10th Street" - that sure narrowed it down as to location, eh? Curiously, the notice mentions a 2011 budget estimate of $392,920,679, an estimate of the maximum levy (maximum property tax revenue needed) of $102,130,737 -- but fails to mention the estimated property tax rate. I don't know if that is sufficient for these notices that are entitled "Notice to Taxpayers of Budget Estimates, Tax Levies and Tax Rates". Hmm.

In today's paper are very interesting and informative public notices for three local school districts - Wayne, Washington, and Perry. There are notices of past expenses for Wayne and Washington, and notices of 2011 budgets for Wayne and Perry.

MSD Wayne Township and MSD Washington Township posted their "Annual Financial Report", covering 2009, which lists the number and salary range of administrators ("Certified Administrative Staff"), non-certified staff salary ranges, teacher salaries plus extra-curricular compensation, a comparison of the budgeted expenses and how much was actually spent, tax rates for 2009 and 2010, a list of all vendors who were paid over $2500, a list of debt, budgeted vs. actual revenues, and school enrollment by grade level. These financial reports are in today's (Monday, August 2, 2010) paper for both Wayne and Washington school districts. They are not in the public notice section of the electronic IndyStar.com. It appears that today is the only date these will be published.

The MSD Wayne Township's "Notice To Taxpayers of Tax Levies" is in both paper and electronic versions of the Star. From an estimated total budget of $153,194,394, they will seek $47,178,171 from property taxes, up from $40,23,876 they asked for 2010. Now, you should be aware that taxing units often inflate the amount of money they seek, as the notice will provide a maximum level. It is difficult to know how inflated the number really is - so you should ask questions if it strikes you as awfully high. They are yet to actually finalize these numbers through their internal budget process, and want to protect themselves from posting a number that is too small. The Wayne school district also posted a three year Capital Projects Fund Plan that covers the next 3 years, and which will require $13 - $14 million per year. Both the budget and the CPF plan will be discussed at 7:30 pm, August 16, at 1220 S. High School Road and the public has a right to be heard on both matters. Taxpayers have the right to file an objection. The school board is expected to vote on the final budget at its September 13 meeting. This notice indicates that it will be published again on August 9.

The MSD Perry Township "Notice to Taxpayers of Tax Levies" also appears in both versions of the Star. They estimate a total 2011 budget of $132,996,281 and will seek $46,843,282 from property taxes, compared with $29,831,413 for 2010. They show the collected tax revenues for 2007, 2008, 2009, and to be collect in 2010, for comparison. Like Wayne school district, they posted a three year CPF plan - they call fore spending $12 - $14 million per year. They will hold a public hearing and consider this budget and CPF plan at 6:00 pm, August 23, at 6548 Orinoco Avenue. The School Board is expected to approve the final budget on September 13.

2010 Tax Cap Credits -- Municipal Corporations

Now we move on to the municipal corporations, those units of government run by a separate Board, but operated in part or in whole with taxpayer funds. The Boards are appointed by elected officials and the budgets are approved by the City-County Council. These muni corps are: the Capital Improvement Board, the Marion County Health & Hospitals Corporation, the Indianapolis International Airport, the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library, and IndyGo. For the tax cap credit impacts, I will also list the smaller local Libraries and the Speedway transportation system, although I do not have information about their budget totals.

The Capital Improvement Board, as we are often and loudly told does not take property taxes (usually while they are busy picking another of our taxpayer pockets). Their entire budget is not open for approval or rejection by the Council; barred from review is anything to do with Lucas Oil Stadium. The CIB relies upon a laundry list of tax revenues and is so awash in ample cash that it was recently able to give away $33.5 million to the Pacers organization. (Just in case you missed it, that was sarcasm.)

The Indianapolis International Airport is legally able to ask for property tax support, but it does not do so. Instead, it relies on landing fees, funds from the FAA, ticket taxes, and the like for its revenue. This does not mean that they do not impact property taxes in Indianapolis. Given their huge expanse of property and their willingness to extend property tax-free status to the likes of FedEx and others, they cut down the property taxes that could be garnered from private enterprise that operates on airport land. When those taxes aren't paid by these huge and small companies, the rest of us pick up the slack. The biggest loss is to those of us living in Decatur and Wayne Townships, but the impact is definitely County-wide at some level.


In addition to the property tax revenue of each of the muni corps, I am noting the size of each entity's entire budget, since those documents are readily available on the City's website. Links to each are provided with the actual total budget figure. The numbers in the "%" column are calculated by dividing the circuit breaker credit (or, tax cap credit) by the certified property tax levy as determined by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF).

	Total Budget	Property Tax Levy*	Circuit Breaker Credits	%
CIB	$94,127,800	$0	0	n/a
H&H	294,673,536	[108,416,452] 57,128,763	3,964,611	6.9%
Indy Airport	258,972,924	0	0	n/a
IMCPL	49,511,592	[38,426,227] 37,474,023	2,536,486	6.8%
IndyGo	76,413,334	[22,094,075] 20,668,415	1,472,888	7.1%
Beech Grove Public Library		1,116,091	318,490	28.5%
Speedway City Public Library		760,028	7,838	1.0%
Speedway Public Transportation		236,336	2,437	1.0%
* Number in brackets is the amount of property tax levy approved by the City-County Council. Number not in brackets is the levy certified by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, which is the final, official amount.

Beech Grove continues to demonstrate higher percentage of its property tax levy having been lopped off in the form of tax cap credits. The muni corps that get property tax revenues have seen an average impact from the tax caps.