Came across See Through NY.
Contracts, expenditures, payrolls, and other information on state, city, school districts etc.
Here is the Lockport School District Teacher's Contract: Link
One can also search city employee salaries, etc. I've had no time to really look through any of this information yet but thought I would share.
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Welcome
"What unites us is more important than what divides us." Welcome to the Lockport NY discussion blog. An idea grown out of the old LUSJ forums aimed at giving a permanent home to discussions on renewal, investment, growth and preservation toward creating a great place to live. Topics pertaining to the city and town of Lockport NY, headlines from the Lockport Journal/Buffalo News along with diverging views on them are welcomed and encouraged. If you have your own Lockport-centric blog, let me know. I'll happily link to it and participate. Want a topic addressed and opened for comment? Send me an email. -MJ
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14 comments:
Could you open up a thread about the upcoming library vote? I'm wondering what everybody thinks about the library spending so much money on dvd's and computer games as opposed to buying new books. It drives me nuts to see people taking out 7 dvd's at a time, while I struggle to find books to read in there.
Here's a survey they are doing, let them know in one of the comment boxes what you think about buying dvd's.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WJV2CGL
I think the library does a great job for our community. They offer a lot of programs for our kids which are always well attended. I think the library is a great value for the people especially with the economy the way it is. Where else can you get so much - books, DVDS, etc. - for free. Just need a library card.
The question that is being asked should our tax dollars be buying all these dvd's, is the the job of a library is it the library's job to buy books?
And do you work at the library or something? Sure sounds like it.
done ;)
Did you know our superintendent and board president assured the comptroller that they would return to Lockport taxpayers the nearly $10 million we were overcharged over the last several years with a tax decrease?
Anybody been reimbursed lately?
See your tax dollars at work, download the latest State Comptroller Audit Report at www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/
Call every board member today and tell each one how you feel about the proposed tax hike
Marietta Schrader 434-4957
Allan Jack 434-7468
Edward Sandell 433-8109
John Linderman 433-1882
Tom Fiegl 434-5750
Margaret Lupo 433-2842
Jon Williams 439-1634
David Nemi 433-6873
James Gugliuzza 433-4826
Call them again before the April 14 Board meeting to be sure they heard you
Attend the Board meeting on April 14 and tell them again
Vote down the budget on May 18 and vote old board members out of office
It is our own fault that we have one of the highest property tax rates in the nation--it's time to take action!
I never really had a problem with the rainy day fund balance where it was at. I found it funny that the state was reprimanding all these districts for "overcharging" while it flirts with insolvency and now forces the districts to dip into the "over charged" funds. There was another article a few weeks back (can't find it now) where the state was saying that school districts should have been wise and set up rainy funds to deal with the current fiscal situation. Seems like the state likes to have it both ways: be the hero to point out someone else is overcharging us (at least the districts had some of the overcharge unlike the state) and then deflecting the budget mess by saying that the same people they just criticized should have been saving for the scenario.
Roughly $3 is being drawn down this year to keep the tax increase down (after all of the closing and cuts). Roughly the same amount will pry be needed next year after more likely cuts/increases. Then all that will be left is the capital fund which by law can only be touched for capital projects.
The school system in the state needs to be redone as a whole. Just because people are busy (as teachers, etc are) does not mean that the resources/funds are being used the most efficiently. Private companies have to live within their means, consistently reinvent themselves, etc or go out of business. Unfortunately the public sector does not work that way and we all feel the pinch.
I think this has been a pretty good school board, the tax rate has at least been stabilized over the last 3 years. I was told by a board member that the state education dept told them the fund balance was great that they had, but another branch of gov't (the comptrollers office) decided it was too big. Of course the comptroller is elected, could that be a factor as he tries to be a hero?
I think the whole state needs to be re-done, not just school system. This is a perfect example, two branches of gov't both duplicating the same job, getting different results, and wasting more money!
Depends how you judge school boards. Sure, they're nice people. I think we'll see that the good ones won't be in a mad rush closing schools and frantically making cuts because of state aide reductions. We'll also see the good ones make cuts from the top--most districts around here have way too many administrators.
Let's watch and see which large districts skate through this...and move there! (That is if we can sell our houses and if we can afford to move after we see how little our properties are worth now--I just learned that for every $80 per thousand our taxes go up, the overall property value is driven down.)
Find out just how good the school board is at seethroughny.com.
Download a copy of the superintendent's contract that expires 6/2010 where she was given a raise to $139,725.00 and taxpayer payment of 100% of her retiree health benefits for both her and her spouse for life. Of course, she does only have 35 vacation days now.
Then check out how Lockport's statistical rankings compare with other school districts. We are the 6th highest in the region (out of 82 districts)for property taxes and 8th for unclassified employee benefits.
How can anybody be content with this situation? We now pay more per thousand than Amherst and Williamsville--where is the bang for our buck?
Comparison Superintendent Salaries:
Amherst Central $150,000
Niagara Falls $155,000
Williamsville $198,000
And... for 14094 as per:
http://www.zip-codes.com/zip-code/14094/zip-code-14094.asp
Avg. Income Per Household: $40,836
Over 3 times the average household income, and benefits for life. Must be nice living off the public.
More interesting city of Lockport stats from the 2000 Census Bureau report:
Median Household Income: $35,222
Mean Retirement Income: $18,160
Per Capita Income: $19,620
Number families below Poverty: 1,082
Number individuals below Poverty: 2,927
When considering city and school budgets, we need to think in terms of existing resources and stop the run-away spending.
For that kind of money, we should have much better results. The worst part is when was the last time you heard someone moving to Lockport because of the excellent school system?
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