Final Budget Raises Taxes 2.72 Mills or 2.52% — But Fund Balance Figure Is 5.18% of Expenditures (Board Policy Calls for 4%)

After a long meeting filled with discussion about how to use the Melsky money, whether to use some of that money to further reduce the budget and the tax hike, the Board passed the budget as it was presented by the Administration: projected expenditures of 199,278,168 including a $1,000,000 budgetary reserve; projected revenues of $194,071,499; [...]

Holy Cow! Another Change to Melsky: Now Toll Brothers Gets to Buy the ENTIRE Property from Council Rock School District

The agenda for tonight’s Board meeting had a motion proposed for passage that would authorize Board president Bernadette Heenan to to act as the duly authorized agent of the Board of School Directors to execute all documents presented by special counsel to finalize the sale of the Melsky Property. Sounds innocuous enough. But looking at [...]

Location Change for January 21st Board Meeting

I just came across this at the School District’s website: the location for tomorrow night’s meeting of the School Board has been moved.  Instead of being at the Chancellor Center as usual, it will be held in the auditorium at Council Rock High School South.  The meeting start time remains unchanged.

Council Rock School District Considers Looking for a Tax Referendum Exception by Raising Retirement Contributions More than Required — Can This Maneuver Allow a Greater Tax Increase without Voter Input?

At the Finance Committee meeting of December 16th, District officials discussed two potential referendum exceptions to the Act 1 index which could be requested if the School Board wished to proceed. The first was an exception for loss of certain revenue (about which I posted before), and in this post I would like to focus [...]

Melsky Appears On Agenda Again Tonight — An Extension for Settlement Until January 29, 2010?

A new item cropped up this morning on the Board Meeting agenda posted on CRSD’s website. The earlier agenda posted did not have an item regarding the Melsky Tract and the sale to Toll Brothers and Leo Holt, but now there is.  Item 1 under Items for Board Approval is the Melsky Property.  According to [...]

Proposed Extension of Time for Melsky Tract Sale Voted Down 5-4

At last night’s special meeting of the School Board, the sole item on the agenda was whether to extend the contract during which Toll Brothers and Leo Holt could execute the purchase of the Melsky Property on Stoopville Road. The original agreement allowed Toll and Holt to get three-month extensions by paying extension fees, half [...]

Melsky Decision Tonight — Extend, or Make Toll Brothers Fish or Cut Bait?

Tonight’s special Board Meeting has been called to discuss whether to offer an extension to Toll Brothers (and to Leo Holt) for the sale of the Melsky property.  This was a contentious issue at the time of the Veteran’s Cemetery decision — Toll made the sale of land for the cemetery contingent upon getting the [...]

Improvement in Information to the Public

Followers of the blog have seen my concern over the level with which the Administration and Board shares information with the public.  With the power the School District has, it is imperative that the public’s right to know be held at the highest level. It should be acknowledged that the most recent Board meeting showed [...]

School District Makes Improvement to Board Meeting Agendas

The agenda posted for tonight’s School Board meeting is an improvement over the format from past agendas which have been on the District’s website. Past agendas showed numbered attachments to various agenda topics, and to check out any posted agendas, you had to exit out of the agenda and click on a separate link for [...]

What Is the Responsibility of the School District to Keep the Public Informed? Where Is the Response to Public Comments? What Is the Status of the CRESPA Contract?

Let’s be clear — the Council Rock School Board is a governmental agency.  They have taxing authority over the public.  And with that comes a responsibility to keep the public informed of matters impacting the District and potential problems that could affect the budget and, in turn, the taxes we pay. They don’t just operate [...]