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Do you think we will see the same participation this Saturday for the School District Budget?

OH NO WAY! Be lucky to get 25 residents that don't work for the school there. I'm going to have to try a different tack for that one. Guilt trip is my first thought. I bet It'll pass as proposed. Very irksome. I will be hammering on the Gilford contract though. Good Lord that needs to be redone.

Does anybody realize that this budget represents the largest portion of our tax dollars?
Does anybody realize that the Administrative portion of this budget is FAT-FAT-FAT! Why can't our Super who makes a very competitive salary do the budget on his own without the Business Admin?
Why can't we get along with a principal and a super without the extra assistant principal?
We did so for years, why can't we cut some fat?
Better yet, get rid of the whole SAU and contract the services from Gilford.

You mean your not already happy with giving Gilford $17,000 per year per high school student? Now you want to get porked for SAU services? It is not our SAU that is out of whack, its the cash cow we've given Gilford with our high school contract. As PT Barnum put it, there's a sucker born every minute!

This falls on the Board and Budget comm for allowing the contract to lapse. Stan says we could back out anytime we want.(I'm sometimes amazed at what he'll tell me just by me asking) Also we own a piece of property for a new school. Lets Bond that sucker and stop the bleeding! And NOT a Taj Mahal either! A School, a warm dry place with books, and 'puters, and teachers that care.
Wishful thinking I know....

Has there been any studies on CC's (cost and codes) for a high school here...ever? I know I am asking this very late in this game..but, figured I am not the only one who might wonder...

I wasn't thinking of paying Gilford a ton of cash for SAU services - they should pretty much give them to us for the outrageous price we pay them.

The SAU costs continue to be way above what was ever envisioned.

Any study done would be out of date by now I imagine.

From todays Monitor:
Gilmanton School District meets tomorrow at 10 AM

"Biggies: Attendees will decide whether to add money to a variety of capital reserve funds, including accounts for special education, roof replacement, a leach field pump station, a fuel storage tank, water storage tanks, paving, boiler replacement and tractor replacement. The requested appropriations total about $70,000.

Money matters: The proposed operating budget is about $8.88 million.

Details: The meeting will take place tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Gilmanton School."

$70K out of almost 9 million?
Good Lord, THERE IS NO HOPE!

Most of that 8 mil is contracted so we have to pay it.

I hear Chichester wants to build a school, wonder if that's worth looking into???

Well, 75 people spent 8 million +
All warrent articles passed and the School board was kind enough to adjust the main budget down another $40,000 in acknowledgment of our locking in at a lower fuel cost.
Result- pretty much level funding.
I think R. Hatch said it worked out to a .0027 increase. I guess that is the best one could hope for.

Correction from last post, Canterbury not Chichester.

Nice job, 2 cents, thanks for the post

You're welcome.
I can see why people get frustrated with the District meeting, can you say rubber stamp?

When 75% of the voting body is school employees and their significant others.. why bother attending, it is purly an act of going through the motions.

As for those that bitch about the tax rate... they better not bitch to me anymore. After this years pathetic showing I will not waste my time ever again.

It really baffles me how everybody shows up to nickle and dime the town budget which is the LOWEST portion of our tax rate.

Thanks! Leave me ALL ALONE why don't ya.:)
The only way it's ever going to change is if we stick together and impact things where we can. We have 10 years left on the Gilford contract. We would be Stupid to the Nth degree to not have a new school built by that time. It WILL mean biting the bullet for several years while it's built, but after that we're building equity in an asset that WE OWN.

But as always, that just my 2 cents.

Yesterday was just too depressing. I was hopefull when I saw all the cars in the lot, but obviously no one there to say NO. As much as I respect Sisti, I think he should have done a hand count on the first article: it seemed close, but the NO's weren't loud enough. After that, it seemed that the "NO" folks were too intimidated to speak out any more. I couldn't have imagined that much money spent so fast without issue in this economy.

I can not believe the school is costing the town this much money. Every year it seems to be going up and up. They are employing everyone. If they did some drug tests on some people in that school they could cut a few employees. Look at Smithers, and Zana Richards. Something to think about Principal.

I know we are all in here to express our concerns over the budget but don't you think accusing employees of the school that your children attend (or maybe they don't and that is why you feel this way) is a little bit much? Yes the economy is horrible right now but I have friends in cities and towns that have taken away just about everything from the children that you can possibly imagine and it is only going to get worse. I think if you have children in the school then you would not be whining so much because you would know that your children are of course worth the tax dollars that we are spending. I can't believe some of the nonsense on this site. Stick to the budget concerns and not the rumors in this town.

So, concerned parent, let me get this straight. Apparently you're happy and content that we're paying Gilford thousands of dollars, and this isn't a waste of money to you. You don't agree that Gilmanton wasted more tax money on a plot of land and never built a school on it, or is that just a "rumor in this town"? No one here is talking about teachers, academics and extra-curricular activities. We're talking about hand-feeding another burg our tax money. Whining? Gee I guess you told us.

Poor Days wrote:

I can not believe the school is costing the town this much money. Every year it seems to be going up and up. They are employing everyone. If they did some drug tests on some people in that school they could cut a few employees. Look at Smithers, and Zana Richards. Something to think about Principal.

That's really a cheap shot at 2 people who are not teachers or in any position to be drug tested. Let's not use this forum to drag folks down for no reason. I have to assume that you really haven't taken the time to look at the school budget. There's tons of fat and misuse of funds, but not at that level. Let's not be spineless about hacking the locals because you have some personal axe to grind.

I happen to like both Smithers and Zana..what's up with the sentence? Were you accusing them of drug usage OR indicating for them to be the next Principal? It's hard to tell...