Plainfielders may be just as puzzled as I am at Mayor Robinson-Briggs' suggestion at this past Monday's budget hearing that the school district could aid the city's tax situation if it would only stop charging for use of its facilities.
The Ledger framed it nicely (see more here) --
"Speaking at Monday's meeting, the mayor said everyone should share in the cost of educating the children.An idea that was seconded by Councilor Burney on his blog, As I See It (see more here). And was the subject of a back-and-forth with Maria in the Crescent Times (see more here).
The Plainfield Board of Education, Robinson-Briggs said, should stop charging the city to use its fields and facilities for youth programs. "We are in a terrible, horrific tax situation," she told the crowd. "Now, we are servicing the same group of youths and are being charged twice."
Now this all sounds like a no-brainer, until you give it a moment's thought.
When I worked for the City and had to book venues, the only time there was a 'free ride' was if the school district and the city JOINTLY put an event together.
The City's Recreation Division has been using the school district's fields and facilities for dog's years, and I cannot remember this idea ever being broached.
For starters, fees are not a money-maker for the district. They cover maintenance costs and mandated personnel coverage for buildings when being used by non-district organizations.
So the Mayor's proposal would simply shift the cost from the City's taxpayer base to the school district's taxpayer base.
As in robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Hmmmmm.
Has the Mayor forgotten utterly that when she was on the Board of Ed, and was its president, she never offered to stop charging the city these fees?
Guess the shoe was on the other foot.
Color me [still] puzzled in Plainfield.
- Ledger: "Residents make a pitch to preserve [rec's] budget"
- Councilman Burney: "A Good Idea"
- Crescent Times: "Q&A to Councilman Burney"
-- Dan Damon
View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.
ARCHIVED POSTS OF PLAINFIELD TODAY FROM 11/03/2005 THROUGH 12/31/2006 ARE AT
http://plainfieldtoday.blogspot.com/
http://plainfieldtoday.blogspot.com/
Posts
1 comments:
Hi, Dan,
You are not the only one puzzled. How is going to pay for the facilities staff that maintains the fields and playgrounds and so forth? If the school offers the use for free who will pay to clean up, turn off lights, run equipment? Will the public works people be pulled into service to do this on a volunteer basis? What about insurance? A city employee or child who got hurt would now be able to sue the district and the city, instead of just the school district. This is just another dumb misguided idea by the mayor and Burney to take our minds off the fact that they are raising our taxes to pay for the mayor's personal aide and her personal security detail. I wonder what the other councilors think of opening the city to even more liability. We still haven't heard a word from any of them on cutting the mayor's personal staff and police detail to save money.
Post a Comment