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Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Mayoral Forum: One of questions relates to School Crossing Guards; Dilema of zero increase budgeting examined

Last night at the Evansville Mayoral Forum, Denis Hatfield, a member of the Evansville School Board, rose to ask the mayoral candidates to state their position on funding of the school crossing guards. All the candidates said they would review this issue further.

If you click on the post, you will see the WATERCOOLER The Evansville Observer posted on this issue some time back. I did attend all the budget hearings during budget "counting" season, and did see the tight city budget that produced the no tax increase for the city portion. It comes line item by line item. For the record, the tax increase citizens may have received probably was in the Blackhawk Tech portion, and not in the city or school portion of their tax bill.

In budget matters, sometimes citizens want no tax increase but in the next heartbeat want an exception. It happened right in the Bauer Hause last night. This issue will certainly be reviewed in the next budget season. Citizens can talk to their alderman about their opinions on this issue.

If you click on the post and the comments you will see the discussion of Karen Aikman on the crossing guard issue.

6 comments:

  1. Unless the police dept is going to step things up, way up!!!! There has to be crossing guards and the city does need to pay for more of a portion of this. This is a job that we are lucky if we can even fill because of the limited amount of hours, be greatful for the people who do this job, and pay them a decent wage.

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  2. I agree with the idea ambulance fugo has, I think it would be nice if more people would volunteer. People who want to complain about their taxes but do nothing to help maybe. I would if my work schedule permitted it. I would have no problem with that. When I do have days I off, I volunteer at the school. Its only a hour in the a.m. and p.m.. I think the crossing guards we do have deserve a lot of praise, I noticed some of them the kids really love, and they seem to really care for the kids.

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  3. If you only had a 700+ increase, consider your self lucky.

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  4. Spot on, Fugo and Packerfan. The classic "Cut my taxes and provide better services" complaint continues to live on!

    Funny thing is that the Crossing Guard program began as a volunteer program. The City funded training and supplies. It wasn't till the School Board took over the program that the crossing guards became employees.

    And hats off to the crossing guards they have. Living on Madison and School, I see the near misses between speeding traffic and inattentive kids all the time. The crossing guard does a wonderful job when she is there! I don't mind my taxes helping support what she does - it's just too bad that the School Board doesn't play well with others.

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  5. o.k. walton, what does spot on mean? Someone mentioned higher taxes and less services? What services have been cut,? I have not noticed any.

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  6. Sorry for the terminology, Packerfan. Spot On is simply a way of saying you nailed it on the head (actually the combination of you and Fugo in this case). I was taking Fugo's comment "this city hates its tax rate but loves its services" and your "I agree with the idea ambulance fugo has" and agreeing.

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