A little math goes a long way. Or not.

I was perusing the Westerly Sun this afternoon and I came to an AP article entitled, “Survey Finds Vast Oil Reserves”.  I was intrigued.  I am quite well aware that most of the planet’s oil is already on tap and half of what we started out with is already gone.  So the word “vast” really grabbed my attention.

The article states that there are 90 million barrels of oil under the arctic ocean.  That’s great!  The US current uses 20 million barrels a day.  That’s an extra 4.5 days of oil use before civilization comes crashing in upon itself! Awesome!  Pass the Cheetos!

I can only assume the author meant 90 billion barrels, which amounts to 4500 more days of modern living.  Cool.  Just what we need to really cook the planet.

I Need a New Racket…

…or Why Chariho Costs So Much!

Apparently the Chariho Middle School has hired a new assistant principal.  According to the Westerly Sun (July 20) her name is Karen Swoboda.  Her starting salary is $90,443.

All I can say is holy crap!  $90,000 to be an assistant principal of a middle school?  I consider that a remarkable salary for an assistant school administrative position.

If you check the web you will find various numbers for middle school assistant principals.  Obviously, regional differences and cost of living will impact the numbers but no one else appears to be paying this much for this job:

http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-Assistant+Principal+Middle+School/l-Boston%2C+MA

http://www.wcpss.net/salary-schedules/assistant-principals/middle-traditional.html

http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/swzl_compresult_national_ED03000268.html

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/suptsmemos/2001/inf178i.pdf

Salaries for an assistant principal of a middle school seem to be between $50 and $70K.  Why are we paying so much?  Our students are no better prepared that any others in Rhode Island or anywhere else.   So I ask again, why do we pay a premium for administrators (who do not teach) and assistant principals who handle discipline?

Do you know who else makes $90,000?  Examining the list of salary data for URI, compiled by Common Cause of Rhode Island in 2004, Frances Cohen, Dean of Students, responsible for University-wide student discipline made $83,000 in 2004.  She probably makes about $90K now.  URI has 15,000 students?  Cohen, effectively an assistant principal, makes about $6 per student (ages 17-25).  Swoboda will make $90 per student (ages 10-15).  Something is very badly wrong here.

Is disassembling the district the only way to fix the salary insanity?

It’s Mageau with a TKO

I wasn’t sure I was going to comment on the 3-ring-circus that is the Charlestown Town Council but I simply cannot resist.  And my comment is as follows: 

Ishmael’s Rule of Good Governance #1:  As a public offical, you are never allowed to lay your hands on any member of the public, their property or their video camera.

If you would like to call them nasty names, fine.  It’s immature and childish and will probably damage your credibility, but fine.  If you must sink to name calling, go ahead.  It violates Ishmael’s Rule of Good Governance #11, however, it’s not a cardinal rule, so to speak.  But as the saying goes, hands off the merchandise.  This is America.  The government cannot impinge upon free speech, squash dissent or obscure the public record.  Or knock a camera out of a guys hand at a public meeting.  At least not in my America.  Or Willy Mason’s. 

If you would like the details, the Westerly Sun has it in full page color.  And if you would like to see the video, it is on Google: 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3253976446657449942&hl=en

I cannot say I am sorry to see Mageau’s career (presumedly) up in smoke.  The whole lot of Councilors in Charlestown should be cleared out and replaced.  But Mageau is a special case, he has to go.  Shame on you Councilor Mageau.  Your behavior is simply disgraceful and all your pontificating and self righteousness will not convince us that you should be allowed to continue to represent Charlestown.  

So Charlestown Wants to Run a School District?

I think those individuals in Charlestown who think running their own school district is a good idea are off their collective rockers.  It’s just plain expensive and the numbers I have seen bandied about are ridiculously low.   Here are the costs to run a school system, from FY2009 Local Budgets

North Stonington, CT  (pop. 5,000):  $11 million

Oxford, CT (pop. 10,000):  $24 million

Narragansett, RI (pop. 17,000):  $27 million

Stonington, CT (pop.  18,000):  $30 million

Westerly, RI (pop. 23,000):  $50 million

Chariho (reg. pop.  24,000):  $51 million

South Kingstown, RI (pop. 29,000):  $51 million

North Kingstown, RI (pop. 27,000):  $58 million

Frankly, I have no idea how North Stonington can run a school district on $11 million.  There has to be something I am missing here (casino dollars?).  If we assume NS is an outlier, it becomes apparent that the cost of school district correlates pretty well with population.  This is not surprising.  It also appears that Chariho expenditures are within what might be considered appropriate, based on neighboring towns.  I have no doubt Chariho could be running leaner than it is, but how much can we shave off it?  Another 5 million?  If we assume that the budgets are inflated (which they are) we might manage it.  But I’m not sure we could cut it much below $47 million with the current contracts in place.

So what is the point here?  The point is that it takes at least $24 million to run a school district, as indicated by every other school district within proximity to us, with the exception of North Stonington.  And Oxford is actually pretty damn far away from us but they are about our size.    It’s possible a school district for a town of 8,000 people could be run for $20 million, but I’d like to see the numbers before I believe it.  

How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

In trying to determine the probable cost of a new high school, I think the best approach is to look at what others have paid.  New construction estimates can be thrown out by any person with a particular bias or agenda, so looking at actual numbers can be very important.  Here are some numbers from recently built high schools in the past 3 years (or under construction) from Connecticut and Massachusetts:

 Amity Regional High School, CT (regional pop. 27,000):  Cost of addition, $26 million.

East Haven High School, CT  (pop. 28,000): $35,000,000

Swampscott High School, MA (pop. 15,000):   $41 million

Oxford High School, CT (pop. 10,000):  $45 million

Beverly High School, MA (pop. 40,000):  $65 million

Wellesley High School, MA (pop. 26,000) :  $159 million

Newton High School, MA (pop. 83,000): $197 million

Obviously, the size of the local population will determine the number of students and the necessary square footage of the building.  But there is not always a correlation, apparently Wellesley wants gold plated toilets in their restrooms (and if you have ever been to Wellesley, you won’t be surprised).  But $35 million was the cheapest cost I can find for a high school.  The “appropriate range” seems to be $35-$65 million.   A middle school seems to go for about $20 million, if it is a separate campus.  Square footage costs seem to be in the range of $180 to $230 per square foot.

 In Jarrell, TX they managed to build a high school for $15 million.  But that’s Texas, not New England.  The Town only has about 3000 people in it, which translates to many fewer students than Hopkinton.  It does not appear to be a regional district.

 

Thanks a lot PBS, you suck.

From the Providence Journal of July 11th:

 

Rhode Island PBS phasing out coverage of meetings 

By Maria Armental, Journal Staff Writer 

Citing legal concerns over the conduct of some of its employees, the Rhode Island Public Broadcasting System said PBS employees will stop taping town meetings on the company’s time.

Instead, towns must find their own volunteers, said David Piccerelli, Rhode Island PBS vice president and chief financial officer.

Piccerelli said the company had to fire one of its employees after he “allegedly spoke out of turn … and was disruptive” while covering a town council meeting in Charlestown “after being instructed not to speak” during assignments.

The policy is being phased in statewide, according to Piccerelli, who said only a handful of communities continue to rely on PBS employees to tape the meetings. Among those communities, he cited Johnston and Cranston.

PBS employees are still taping Cranston and Johnston meetings, but they stopped going to Charlestown, Richmond, Hopkinton and Westerly about a month ago.

 

So let me understand this correctly:  PBS had a poor employee.  They fired the employee.  Instead of hiring a replacement, they decided just to cancel the service?  I think many of us know of the employee in question and breathed a sigh of relief over his removal, however, that one person was not “the service” that we received.

Any other institution would hire a new employee to cover this important position.

What it comes down to is PBS is being cheap and they think they can get away with not providing Hopkinton with an important historical service.  No one at the state level seems to care and no one is going to force PBS to abide by the terms of a prior agreement.  The Public Utilities Commission had the following to say,

“There were some agreements made in the early ’80s, but the times have changed,” Palazzo said, adding, “There is no requirement [for] any live programming of any sort.”

“Whatever gentlemen’s agreements were worked out in the 1980s cannot be expected to be carried out ad infinitum,” Palazzo said.

How about a NEW agreement?  PUC, you also suck (and thanks for the 20% electricity cost increase).

Oxford, CT Redux

I have gotten updated FY08-09 numbers for Oxford, CT.

Mill Rate:  19.37 (ours is 14.47)

Cost to Run School District:  $24,000,000

State Aid to Oxford for Education:  $3.7 million (probably closer to $4.6 million, there appears to be some last minute generosity on the part of the State of Connecticut).

What that means for you?  In Hopkinton, you would pay $4400 for your $303,000 house.  In Oxford, you would pay $5900 for your $303,000 house.  With the cost of home heating oil at $4.40 a gallon and the cost of electricity about to jump 21%, can you afford a new school district?

It is important to also remember that while we are getting more state aid right now ($5.7 million) that will not necessarily always be the case AND Hopkinton has a smaller tax base than Oxford so the amount we must tax an individual is higher (Mill rates in the range of 22 to 25).  

Why is Oxford’s Mill rate so high as opposed to the previous number (which was around 12)?  Because the school district was brand new and they were not yet paying salaries and operational expenses.  The School year runs from Sept to Jun.  The FY runs from July to June.  It looks like it was simply a matter of expenses not quite overlapping revenues for one year.

Your Neighbor, Ishmael

Charlestown Withdrawal Committee = Fuzzy Math Mischief Makers

The ad hoc Charlestown Withdrawal [from Chariho] Update Committee has looked at a number of options for leaving, partially leaving or staying in Chariho.  And frankly, I am not impressed with their numbers.  Not only am I not impressed, I don’t believe them.  The caveat here is that I am pulling these numbers from a Westerly Sun article written by Chris Keegan.  It’s a ridiculously confusing trainwreck of an article with all kinds of numerical inaccuracies and confusing math but it’s where I am getting the numbers from until I decide to be interested enough to actually get the committee’s report.  Chris, I think you need a better editor.  Soon.

It comes down to this:  If Chariho becomes an equalized district, where every person in the 3 towns pays the same for Chariho, Charlestown taxes will go up from $13 million for Chariho to $18 million.  This is a $5-6 million dollar increase.  Based on the numbers I pulled from Oxford Connecticut, it costs about $22 million to run a school district.  Going from $13 million to $22 million is a $9 million dollar increase.

The fact is, it costs Charlestown more to leave Chariho than it does to simply equalize taxes.  But even a 7 year old could figure that math out using common sense (unless that 7 year old resides in Charlestown).  Remember when I said in an earlier post that the whole motivation for Charlestown leaving has nothing to do with the bonds, it’s all about a small and vocal group that just wants local control for the sake of local control?  This is just further evidence to support that assertion. 

If they can run a school district for under $18 million, more power to them.  We’re already paying $17 million for Chariho out here in Hopkinton, for the extra $1 million I’d say we should do it too.  But it can’t really be done for that amount and Charlestown knows it.  If it could, we’d be doing it already.

Why Hopkinton Does Not Want its own High School

How expensive is a high school?  The simple answer is “very”.

High schools are not built everyday.  But the most recently built high school, in close proximity to us, was just finished in Oxford, CT, last year.  The approximate cost to build the high school was $45,000,000. That’s a lot of money.  They got half the cost reimbursed from the state.  

If it were just a one time hit, maybe that would be acceptable, but it goes deeper than that.  Let’s explore Oxford for a minute.

Oxford

Population: 12,000

Size:  32 square miles

Density: 355 people/square mile

Median income:  $94,000

Median House Value:  $336,000

Total Town Expenses:  $32,000,000  (Education:  $22,000,000, Municipal:  $10,000,000)

Mill rate:  12.45

Police Department:  Up until recently, none, they used the CT State Police.  They now have 9 officers. 

 

Now lets take a look at ourselves

Hopkinton

Population: 8,000

Size:  43 square miles

Density: 188 people/square mile

Median income:  $61,000

Median House Value:  $303,000

Total Town Expenses:  $23,000,000  (Education: $17,000,000, Municipal:  $6,000,000)

Mill Rate:  14.47

Police Department:  16 officers.

 

Now obviously we’re not the same.  Hopkinton is bigger, less dense, has fewer people and has less money than Oxford.  But Oxford is a rural Town in southern-central Connecticut, currently undergoing rapid suburbanization.  I include the numbers for the police department as a matter of future reference.

So using the Oxford numbers (and I will admit it may not be entirely appropriate but it’s all I got) if we dumped all our municipal services, we could pay to run a small school system.  Assuming we like our municipal services, we’re going to have to raise taxes.  The question is, by how much?

In the upcoming fiscal year, Hopkinton can expect to raise $15,069,614 from taxes (if few people default).   So we are raising $8 million through other sources.  Assume that number is fixed.  If we then need $22,000,000 to run a high school and have a municipal budget of $6 million, we will be paying about $30,000,000 in taxes (I know it’s $28 million, but I rounded up for simplicity).  If we divide the $15 million by 14.47, we get a taxable base of $1.03 billion dollars.  So if we need to raise $30 million we subtract the $8 million for non-tax revenue and we get a mill rate of about $22 per 1000.

What does this mean for you?  If your house is worth $303,000 (the median Hopkinton value) you will pay  $4400 in taxes next FY.  If we had a high school, you would pay about $6700 in taxes.

What am I missing?  Firstly, what about middle school costs?  Secondly, what about the $45 million bond that paid for the high school?  We will owe it over 20 years with interest, just like a mortgage. Throw those into the mix and you are easily looking at and extra $3 to $5 million more, on the conservative side.  So now your taxes jump to $7500-$8000.  

My final question:  Are we freaking insane?  In the middle of a recession, when a lot of people already can’t pay their property taxes, we are talking about new high schools and separate districts?  I have said it before, I don’t like Chariho.  But it is the cheapest way to educate our children.  You can can argue my numbers all you want (and throw in the meager pittance we might get for state aid), but even cutting $5 million off my estimate still puts you in the $7000 tax range, which is a $2500-$3000 increase per year.  In the worst case scenario, our taxes double.  Unless, of course, we can get the teachers to work for us pro bono, out of the good of their hearts…

 Try swallowing that without choking.

Mrs. Ure, I could not agree with you more.

In today’s Sun (July 3rd), a letter to the editor appears that was authored by Georgia Ure.  Her comments are very similar to those I made a couple days ago in response to a comment by CharihoParent.  It’s a good letter so I have posted it here in it’s entirety.  I hope Mrs. Ure doesn’t mind.

It’s time to get Chariho to stop treading on Hopkinton

The residents of Hopkinton are being transformed into a coiled rat tlesnake by the disregard of their vote by the tyrants of Chariho. The defiant motto “Don’t Tread on Me” should become Hopkinton’s slogan as well as a hallmark of the American Revolution.

The Declaration of Independence, after listing our inalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, states that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Hopkinton residents are victims of a government that acts without their consent. Like our forefathers in colonial Rhode Island, we are suffering from a long-standing list of abuses.

These have been brought about by ever-growing tyranny of Chariho. Most recently, the voters of Hopkinton defeated a bond issue. Do our elected and appointed leaders understand the meaning of “No”? Instead of providing alternative plans reflecting the will of the vot ers, these individuals harassed, cajoled, and convinced legislative representatives in Providence to res urrect the bond for the November election.

Voting represents the consent of the governed not something to be discarded like trash or circumvented like a pothole. What happened to the rule of law embedded in the Chariho Act? Is this a prelude to further tax ationwithout representation?

During the celebration of the Fourth of July, take time to read the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. Voting rights are protected. Government representatives are entrusted to act on the will of the people as reflected by such voting. It is the right of the people to alter and abolish any form of government that becomes destructive of these ends.

Eternal vigilance is the price we pay to maintain our freedoms. Know your rights, act to protect them and vote to sustain them. Don’t let the tyrannical rules of Chariho tread on you!

Georgia Ure Hopkinton

 

Take that, Brian Kennedy.