The Way I See It!

$4.4 Million Cudahy Referendum

Posted by Randy Hollenbeck on April 4, 2009

Cudahy, Education, Election, Info, Money, Referendum, school, Taxes, Vote

I am happy to spend money on things that are needed.  I am a big supporter of looking for state and federal grants.  Yes, I do understand that there is a fine line between grants and earmarks.

Now a major portion of the Cudahy referendum is for new roofs at Gen. Mitchell and J.E. Jones elementary schools.

I was talking to someone in city government who told me that someone should have looked into state and federal grants to place solar power panels on the roof.  To get the solar power panels up, they would have to replace the roof.

Not only could the school save on electric costs, but also the roofs would have been replaced.

I have included pictures of James Fennimore Cooper Elementary School on the south side of Milwaukee that does have solar power panels.  (click on picture for larger view)

On a similar thought, you can replace the boilers with Geothermal.  The return on investment (ROI) and savings are very quick.

I do think the referendum will pass and I don’t want to hear from people complain about Cudahy’s taxes!

http://www.cudahynow.com/news/cninews/39026137.html

Roof work tops Cudahy referendum spending list

School officials will ask voters for $4.4 million

“The roofs are really driving this,” said Jim Papala, director of financial services. “There’s a potential for increasing the damage to the buildings if we don’t take care of the roofs real soon.”

Papala said state-imposed revenue limits prevent the district from doing big projects such as roof replacements.  If the referendum meets voter approval, the roofs will be repaired this summer.

Other projects include window, lighting and floor repairs and renovations at Cudahy High School, according to a list from the district.

Nothing ‘extravagant’

Superintendent Jim Heiden said nothing on the list is “extravagant or over-the-top.”

“These are all things that need to be taken care of,” he said.

Kutka disputes ‘needs’

Only board member Linda Kutka voted against going to referendum at a meeting earlier this month.

Kutka said not everything on the list is needed, especially at Cudahy High School. She disputed the inclusion of $625,000 for office renovations, $281,000 to construct a circular drive in the school’s parking lot and $35,000 for an electronic welcome sign outside the school.

A parking lot also would be constructed in front of Kosciuszko Elementary School for about $112,000, she said.

“Those projects, I believe, are not needed,” she said.  “We are in difficult times, and we need to ask citizens for exactly what we need.”

She said the unnecessary projects will not boost students’ test scores or allow the district to hire more staff.

30 state school districts seek more taxpayer funds

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Sunday Mar. 29, 2009

Amid one of the worst economic periods the country has seen in years, 30 Wisconsin school districts are poised to ask taxpayers to open their wallets wider.

The majority of the 43 referendum proposals on April 7 local ballots seek to allow the districts to exceed state-imposed revenue limits to finance current programs.  Others, such as the $68.85 million building program proposed for the West Bend School District, request the ability to issue debt to pay for maintenance or new facilities.

But with the state of the economy, and the failures of all nine school referendum proposals on the Feb. 17 ballot, districts likely face a hard sell this year, observers say.

"They do need more revenue, and they're going to the taxpayers to ask for it, but this is also the wrong time to do that," said Michael Birkley, legislative director for Wisconsin Property Taxpayers.  "With people being laid off all over the place, now is not the time to ask and to invest more in education."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/42107312.html

Cudahy was not mentioned in the article!