UPDATE: According to Jerrud, part of the drop in property values was due to a miscalculation of the value of property associated with a TIF district in Monona last year. The property was over valued last year and the property has been undervalued this year to compensate.
With the final numbers from the state now in hand Jerrud has finalized the levy calculations. The total property tax levy has dropped $250K from the estimate to $18,188K. At the same time the state reports that the total property value in the district has decreased 5.6%. Together this means that the Mill rate will be $13.08. Note that the total dollar amount of the tax collected hasn't changed, just the relative components of the calculation.
The bad news is that the state is saying your home lost 5.6% of its value last year. To find tax and valuation information about your property you can go to http://accessdane.co.dane.wi.us/.
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A constituent today asked about the Governer's new website reforms.wi.gov where one can find the statement "Monona Grove School District Taxpayers will save $2,085,400 due to Act 10 reforms, according to media reports."
If you have been following along here you know the district has saved $1,009,000 by reducing staff compensation consistent with the Act 10 provisions. So the report is more than double the actual value.
The oddly specific number makes it easy to Google, and we find the only source is the website of the advocacy organization the MacIver Institute - not exactly a "media report". MacIver does point to an article in the Herald-Independent, but the HI article only mentions the $1.09M number. It seems the accounting of the effects of Act 10 have been outsourced, but not to a reliable source.
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9 comments:
Technically the taxpayers aren't saving a dime on net, since teacher's are taxpayers too.
You need to cut more. Make teachers work longer before retirement. How does 65 sound? Teachers and administrators should work at least 10 years before they are vested in their pension. The pension amounts should be scaled back. Change to a defined contribution plan anad make them pay their contribution. Let retirement health care be the responsibility of the retiree, not the taxpayer. So much more work to do to right the ship...
And who, exactly, is going to want to teach your kids under those conditions?
To the anonymous #2, are you aware that entry level teachers make about $30,000 per year? Of these, many carry extensive student loan debt. Given the cost of living in Dane County, how can you possibly expect these young people to achieve a middle class life style that includes ownership of a modest car and home all the while attempting to save for their retirement? They will end up like a lot of us in the private sector - woefully underfunded for our retirement. Is this how we want to play the game? Just because the middle class private sector workers are f*****d when it comes to retirement and health care, we want to drag down the public sector workers to that level? How about we look at it the other way around? How about the ENTIRE MIDDLE CLASS says enough is enough - both private and public sector - and we demand economic justice? We get up every day and go to our jobs and for that we should demand a retirement sans cat food for dinner, access to health care, the ability to own a modest home and the assurance that if our kids work hard they can obtain a college education without taking on crushing debt. This is America. If we are willing to work, these things should be our reward. But they're not because by any measure, the wealthy are getting wealthier and everyone else is losing ground. It's wrong and we shouldn't put up with this any longer.
Well said!
The presumption in #2 above is that the early retirement benefit is costing the district money. This isn't so.
The plan was designed to save money by encouraging higher paid teachers to retire to be replaced with lower paid new hires. By my back of the envelope calculation (we will get an actuarial in the near future) it is now just a break-even proposition because of the significant increases in health care costs.
The WRS pension plan vesting schedule is determined by WRS, not the school district. The plan is essentially fully funded (97%) with its current contribution schedule so there aren't any additional costs to the taxpayer for payment of benefits.
Scroll down to Education for stats on Wisconsin teacher's wages. See how that compares to your wage. Better? Worse? you be the judge.
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_wi.htm#00-0000
When we engage in these so-called "comparisons," we are engaging in an activity that is exactly what the corporations who are buying our political system want us to do. You see, people like the Koch bros. and their political front groups ARE very worried about class warfare - worried that we're on to them, so they attempt to get us to engage in inter-middle class warfare instead. If the middle class stuck together (and by that I mean that magic little number of those of us earning less than $250,00k per household), we could then demand of our government a system where ALL who choose to work can be assured a sound retirement, access to healthcare, and the like. This is not about what a teacher makes vs. what a plumber makes vs. what a janitor makes vs. what a nurse makes. This is about a country in which more and more wealth is going to fewer and fewer people while the rest of us need to worry our children will spiral into downward mobility. Our economic system is fundamentally flawed and our congress could not be more useless and show less leadership if they tried. It's time to stop bitching about distractions like teacher salaries and benefits and wake the hell up to what is happening.
Nice list! Among those making significantly MORE that Elementary Teachers are: Postal Service Clerks, Purchasing Agents, Brickmasons, Court Reporters, Sales Reps, Insurance Agents, Pile-Driver Operators, Plumbers, Electricians, Tax Collectors, Railroad Conductors, Fashion Designers Property Managers.
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