Towanda School District officials object to recent letter-to-the-editor

BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN (STAFF WRITER)
Published: March 9, 2010

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Review Photo/JAMES LOEWENSTEIN Towanda school officials discuss how the school district is paying for its planned dedication wall. Pictured are Business Manager Doreen Secor, at left, and Superintendent Diane M. Place.

At the Towanda School Board meeting on Monday, school district Business Manager Doreen Secor said there was "misinformation" in former school board member Elwyn Monahan's recent letter-to-the-editor on the proposed personal income tax and the planned dedication wall at the Endless Mountains Athletics Complex.

At the meeting, the school board also discussed the Pennsylvania school districts' pension crisis and funding for extracurricular activities in the Towanda School District.

Letter

Monahan was incorrect when he stated in his letter-to-the-editor that a personal income tax could tax retirement income or income from Social Security, Secor said.

"Neither the Earned Income Tax (EIT) nor the Personal Income Tax (PIT) taxes Social Security and retirement pensions," Secor said.

Monahan's letter was published in the March 6 issue of The Daily Review.

The school board has discussed placing a referendum on the fall 2011 ballot that would ask voters whether they would be in favor of reducing the school property tax in exchange for the establishment of a personal income tax.

One reason why the school board might put the referendum on the ballot is that the PIT would tax royalties from gas drilling and gas lease payments.

The personal income tax taxes "the same type of income" that is taxed under the state income tax, Secor said after the meeting.

Towanda school officials also said there was misinformation in Monahan's letter regarding the planned dedication wall at the Endless Mountains Athletics Complex.

Secor also said during the meeting that the money that the school district is spending on the creation of its dedication wall at the Endless Mountains Athletics Complex is money that was left over from a $1.5 million state grant that helped pay for the construction of the stadium.

Money from the state grant is paying for both the construction of the wall and the associated architect's fees for the wall, Secor said.

No funds from the school district's General Fund are being used to pay for the wall or the architect's fees, Secor said.

The leftover money from the grant cannot be used for other purposes in the school district, such as purchasing of textbooks for students, members of the school board said.

The wall will have room for 1,008 plaques that the public could purchase to recognize students or community members. One option is to purchase a plaque in memory of someone.

Pensions

Towanda School Board Vice-president Pete Alesky said that the Pennsylvania School Boards Association will address the pension crisis facing school districts at its upcoming regional legislative conference.

A proposal that the Pennsylvania School Boards Association supports would limit the size of the annual increases in the school districts' annual contribution into the state school employees' retirement fund, he said.

As it stands now, the state will require school districts in Pennsylvania to sharply increase the contributions they must make into the retirement fund over the next few years.

Legislators are invited to attend the upcoming conference, Alesky said.

"The Pennsylvania School Boards Association is trying to get it (the pension crisis) resolved for us," Alesky said. "It looks like (some people in Harrisburg) are starting to listen."

The school board also briefly discussed the resignation of John VanAllen Jr. as the junior high cross country and track coach.

The school board will be voting at its March 15 meeting on whether to accept the resignation.

"I believe there is one applicant for each position," namely the cross country coach position and the track coach position, Superintendent Diane M. Place said. The deadline for submitting an application for the positions is today at 3 p.m.

Alesky also said that the board of directors of Intermediate Unit 17 had approved Intermediate Unit 17's operating budget for the 2010-11 school year.

The budget contains money for a new roof for Intermediate Unit 17's building in Williamsport, which has some problems, but otherwise the budget is "pretty much the same as in other years," Alesky said.

The Towanda School Board is scheduled to approve Intermediate Unit 17's operating budget on March 15.

At Monday's meeting, Towanda School Board member Bob Hettich said that, as the school board works on the district's 2010-11 budget, it should not be taking items off the table where it could save money by cutting expenses, such as spending on extracurricular activities.

At the school board's Feb. 16 meeting, the board had directed the school district's administration to pare 2 to 3 percent of the money it spends on extracurricular activities, but to not cut any activities.

However, Hettich said he believed there was not a formal motion passed by the school board to limit the cuts for extracurricular activities to 2 to 3 percent.

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or e-mail: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.

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5 posted comments

Just remember to vote no if you don't like the issue being proposed. Natural gas is going to make a FEW PEOPLE RICH and the rest of us broke.
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concerned,  03/09/10 10:00
what royalities? when the state of Pa. gets done with there tax, the gas company will take it out of the check & there won't be anything left to speak of. The schools just have to learn to cut spending like the rest of have had to do all along.
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Sylvia,  03/09/10 6:38
Tax. Tax. Tax. Why does it feel like 'vultures' are continually circling overhead just waiting to descend on any increase in our income. Oh, wait, it doesn't have to be increased income, what was I thinking?!
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Tired,  03/09/10 2:36
Sorry but I do not think that school districts should be permitted to tax royalties from gas wells. They tax and spend enough. Just like everyone else they must learn to live with that earn. They are considering taxing something that has not even been paid out in most cases yet. Spending money like a drunken sailor has to stop on the part of school districts and government.
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Robin,  03/09/10 10:20
A personal income tax will however tax. Royalty, Lease, Dividends and Interest income. Do you really want to give these people more money to waste. Also the State has no money, it is all TAXPAYER money.
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Ben Dare,  03/09/10 8:30