{"id":8071,"date":"2012-12-18T23:57:34","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T04:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=8071"},"modified":"2017-02-27T14:25:59","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T19:25:59","slug":"compare-and-contrast-newspaper-vigilance-nay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=8071","title":{"rendered":"Compare and contrast newspaper vigilance &#8211; Nay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Published December 18, 2012, 12:00 AM<br \/>\nOur view: Let\u2019s work with district this time<br \/>\nThe tax increase promises to be a big one.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>(I love the last sentence: <em>&#8220;In other words, more of us can do what too few of us did when the Red Plan was being written.&#8221;<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The tax increase promises to be a big one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Double digits. Nearly 12 percent. And on the heels of an expensive, long-range, building-improvement program that already taxed Duluth school district taxpayers.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Yet School Board meetings have been quiet and largely unattended. The front steps of government buildings haven\u2019t seen anything even remotely resembling a tax revolt. And there have been few, if any, letters to the editor of protest.<\/p>\n<p>Are district residents choosing to tune out until decisions are made and their tax bills arrive and it\u2019s too late, the way far too many did back when the Red Plan was being developed?<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019d prefer to maintain that many district residents simply understand, as Superintendent Bill Gronseth said in a meeting this month with News Tribune editorial board members, that, \u201cThe district is really in dire financial straits,\u201d and that, \u201cWhether you hated the long-range facilities plan or loved it or are just sick of hearing about it, we have to move on as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dire is a strong word but not inaccurate in this case, with the School Board expected to vote tonight on the tax increase.<\/p>\n<p>The district\u2019s fund reserve, a healthy $6.8 million a year ago, has shrunk by nearly half to $3.6 million. The fund<\/p>\n<p>reserve has had to be drained to cover Red Plan debt payments. And that\u2019s been necessary because school buildings and other district properties closed under the Red Plan haven\u2019t sold and haven\u2019t brought in the expected $16 million to cover the debt payments.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to Monday-morning quarterback and charge that the district inflated the value of its surplus properties. But the values were determined independently. As Gronseth told the News Tribune\u2019s Jana Hollingsworth for a story in Monday\u2019s paper, \u201cYou make the best decisions you can, given the information you have at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There also doesn\u2019t seem to be reason to suspect Duluth broker F.I. Salter isn\u2019t doing all it can to get the properties sold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have any complaints about their services,\u201d Gronseth said.<\/p>\n<p>F.I. Salter has been paid $53,680 by the district since July 2007 to market, manage, purchase and sell homes and other properties related to the Red Plan, the district\u2019s executive director of business services Bill Hanson told the Opinion page. There\u2019s been plenty of interest in the properties, including the hilltop Central High School and Secondary Technical Center, but the real estate market has gone soft with the recession. The market is far different now than when the estimates were first made. Valuations and expected revenue from sales of properties already have been reduced to reflect economic realities outside of the district\u2019s control.<\/p>\n<p>Selling the surplus properties definitely would help the school district\u2019s bottom line. But even without the Red Plan, the district would be facing financial challenges. State funding has been flat, and federal money for education has been diverted by the billions in recent years to help balance the state budget.<\/p>\n<p>Adding to the financial challenges are upcoming teacher contract negotiations and the expectation of a levy referendum this fall to improve classroom learning and class sizes.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s much to discuss beyond tonight\u2019s School Board meeting to approve a 2013 budget and that likely 11.9 percent increase in the school district\u2019s share of property tax bills.<\/p>\n<p>So, it can be seen as good news that the district is planning a fresh round of as many as 50 community meetings this winter to brainstorm what we want from our schools and how we\u2019re willing to pay for it. The community meetings are expected to be announced between Christmas and New Year\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about bringing people together to clear the clutter,\u201d Gronseth told editorial board members. \u201cIt\u2019s about winning trust back. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 As a community we have some challenges ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All of us will be needed to brainstorm solutions and to offer input for hard decisions. So, when the community meetings are announced, let\u2019s mark our calendars and then let\u2019s go. Let\u2019s carefully consider the information and thoughtfully and productively respond and participate.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, more of us can do what too few of us did when the Red Plan was being written.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Published December 18, 2012, 12:00 AM Our view: Let\u2019s work with district this time The tax increase promises to be a big one. (I&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,35,80],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8071"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20112,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8071\/revisions\/20112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}