Comments on: County Heads Into the Sewer

By: Alrighty Then

Alrighty Then — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:22:10 +0000

WMS,
Maybe you need to take your children/grandchildren out of the school system and educate them yourselves since you don’t want to provide the educators with insurance and the facilities that are needed. While you are at it, let’s just cancel all the money that we spend on public servants’ insurance, etc…like police officers, firefighters, paramedics, etc.

Why don’t you look at where the majority of our money actually goes to: Welfare. Let’s start doing drug testing and intensive looks into those who apply for food stamps, housing, and monthly checks and I bet our country’s deficit would drastically be reduced.

By: Hawkeye

Hawkeye — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:32:24 +0000

Sorta got off the subject of septic tanks didn’t you? I think the county should have to reimburse everyone who has their septic tank pumped out for the extra fee required to take it to Cairo until the county plant is repaired!

By: Maxwell

Maxwell — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:47:00 +0000

Also, every mistake is an opportunity to learn a lesson and do better in the future. Unless, of course, the mistake is not accepted, and then, it will be made again in a similar situation, as in, history repeats itself. I would think, energy experts’ advice could teach how to tighten up that “overblown” high school building, as it were. I am sure those high ceilings, big windows, all the offices and cubby spaces, etc. could be addressed to some degree to lower the heating and a/c costs, which I suspect are outrageous and will get even higher. Others could think of solutions to lower the bills and make it much more energy efficient, simplier for maintenance, and perhaps even doable financially for a community of our size and wealth. The students don’t care about the building. Teachers matter.

By: Maxwell

Maxwell — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:09:20 +0000

Yes, WMS, you are correct. Communities are like the folks in them, and will spend either well, or badly, thus, debt that cannot be paid in the future. Of course, all those issues about the fancy new school down the road should have been foreseen and calculated into the equation. This is not rocket science; there have been many before who were caught in this never ending financial trap. Kids can learn as well in a barn as in a palace. This school was not built so kids could be educated better; obviously, it was built as a show off. And, it will continue to be more and more of a white elephant as the years go by. Too bad for us. Plus, I don’t see much educational value coming out of all that money spent, and will be drained out of taxpayers progressively more as time goes by. For an overdone institutional building, which is what it is behind all those expensive bells and whistles?

By: WMS

WMS — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:19:29 +0000

If the insurance is specified by the state, then this is obviously a very flawed system since the state is expecting the county to pay for the insurance. Since the state is short of funds, and the county is short of funds, maybe the needed solution is to stop providing what neither can afford to pay for. I disagree that that the local BOE has no control, they certainly have the ability to keep borrowing and spending money. And how long has the new school been open, 1 or 2 years? Of course the operating cost are lower right at this moment, but they will certainly start growing year by year. So if you are calculating the lower maintenance expense, then that must mean that the old buildings have all been sold and no longer have any maintenance or upkeep cost to the county. If that is not the case, then we add the cost of keeping the old buildings insured, the liabilty insurance, the grass mowing, etc to the cost of maintaining the new school as well, is it still lower?

By: Larry

Larry — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:48:41 +0000

I think it is important to realize a couple of things.

1. Overall school operating expenses actually decreased after the new high school was put into service.

2. Insurance provided to teachers is specified by the state. Local BOE’s have no control over if it is provided and what is provided.

By: WMS

WMS — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:20:05 +0000

I agree with Maxwell that the new school was an overspending of money that Decatur county did not have. Even if the state does pay for certain things, or even if the state does reimburse the county for certain things, it is idiotic not to realize that is still taxpayer money being spent. Also the county still has to maintain the new school which will recquire more money. And now the county is going to go up on property taxes to pay for insurance for the schools employees. I personally own a small business and had to cancel my entire families health insurance 6 years ago because I realized I could no longer afford it. I currently pay for all health cost out of pocket, yet my taxes will increase to pay for someones elses insurance. It looks to me that our commissioners are not being financially responsible to the citizens of this county. I hate to see someone lose their health insurance, but continuing to give away what you do not have makes no sense. Our county is being ran by the same thinking that the government in DC is using.

By: Mad Max

Mad Max — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:59:37 +0000

Maxwell, As with every school system in Georgia, the short fall is a result of the legislature’s continued cutting of funding for the past several years for just about everything it has helped pay for in the past that goes toward the day to day operation of any school system like money to help pay for salaries, books, paper for copies, fuel for buses, etc. without taking into account that each year the cost of all of it continues to increase while the money they provide continues to decrease.

Student populations grow; periodic upkeep and renovations are not going to solve the problem of an over-crowded building as with the need several years ago to build the new West Bainbridge Elementary school facility when LEW had to be closed any why the new high school needed to be built. It is State cuts in funding, not maintaining the new school, that is the main cause of the shortfall in funds our BOE faces, teacher salaries are the largest expense and with continued cuts from the State, our BOE is doing their best cover all costs and not have to let teachers go or cut salaries any more than the furlough days that have already been implemented.

I do agree that property taxes are an unfair way to cover costs in that a lot of kids attend public school from families who do not own property and many property owners have no kids in school, but then the only fair way to tax everyone for the school system would be to add on some more sales tax, and nobody wants any more of that either. The new school is not the problem, it is our legislature. So what do you suggest should be done to solve the problem?

By: Maxwell

Maxwell — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:53:31 +0000

So you are saying that if we had maintained our schools are they were, with periodic upkeep, we would still be in this outrageous shortfall of money that the DOE needs to maintain this new school? Look out for higher and higer property taxes! This is not the first community who built a fancy new high school who found themselves in a whoops situation.

By: Mad Max

Mad Max — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:27:49 +0000

Maxwell, you can look this up at the State DOE website.
Facilities Services of the Georgia Department of Education assists local school systems in developing long-range capital improvement plans, acquiring the funds needed to implement their plans, and reviewing their architect’s plans to construct adequate and safe school facilities.

Georgia law (20-2-260) requires all school systems to develop and maintain a long range comprehensive facilities plan that is updated every five years to be eligible to participate in Georgia’s Capital Outlay Program. Area consultants and State staff work directly with each school system to provide technical assistance in developing comprehensive plans.

At the beginning of each fiscal year eligible school systems may make applications for state funding for projects in their current facilities plan. When eligible projects are approved by the Legislature and construction design begins the Grants Management staff of the Facilities Services assists the system to establish a schedule for reimbursement of funds.

So to answer your question, the State helps to pay for the bulk of new school construction otherwise local systems would never be able to afford to build a new school. So the fancy new school was apparently not too fancy in that it was approved by the state to reimburse the construction costs.