Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Check out Carla Fultz's lie on the Pickerington Education Association (the teachers union) website:

http://www.pickeringtonteachers.org/Calltoaction.html

She says, ''Issue 8 is a renewal levy originally passed by voters in 1994, renewed in 1997 and
2002 with the revenue essentially remaining constant for the past 13 years.
The current operating issue expires in December 2007, which means the district
would lose $2.8 million annually if Issue 8 should fail. Possible impact includes larger
class sizes, transportation and program cuts.''

This is NOT a renewal levy. It is a replacement levy. The school district wants to keep the $2.8 million and add $2.2 million.

Funny how now everyone wants to cover up the fact that this is a REPLACEMENT, not a RENEWAL!!!

Check out TWIP at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?story=sites/thisweeknews/102507/Pickerington/News/102507-News-442953.html

Jim Brink says, ''A levy loss will result in $2.8-million less funding per year and that will force undesirable changes to educational programming, perhaps resulting in lower quality.''

Lee Gray says, ''It is not new. It was passed by voters in 1994 and renewed in 1997 and 2002. It is revenue we currently depend on and if it does not pass, the district will lose $2.8-million annually.''

Did they conveniently forget about the additional funding? If it were just a renewal, the campaign would be plastering everywhere that this will not raise your taxes. But this one will raise your taxes.

And why are they threatening academic cuts, but are leaving extracurriculars alone?

Something stinks here.

I guess you just can't count on union presidents and school board candidates to tell the truth, or look out for the best interests of the students and families.

By Pickerington Truthteller

Facts not possibly known.forgot.

Former Mayor Gray also conveniently forgets that under his eight years as Mayor the growth in Pickerington was accelerated by Pre Annexation Agreements given to developers to annex to Pickerington and receive reduced sewer/water capacity fees and park fees. Of course Pickerington got the increased income taxes but that did not help the schools.

Here's how you get the facts

I am concerned about the levy and school board candidates,too. I've read the literature they've mailed and read in the papers of what they have to say. His phone number was right in the literature. I've also lived here a long time, so I called Mr. Gray and asked him about his wiews. He was very insightful and pleasant. He told me about the levy and the details IN FULL. He also encouraged me to post his phone number here so you can get the accurate info from him, and not the slanted version you might read here. It is 837-8188.


Lastly, there were no discounted fees given during annexations when he was Mayor. Those were done AFTER he was out of office! The only annexations were the Long Road annexations that were done to stop Columbus's encroachment and zoning into the PLSD area and there were NO discounts given. Those happened after he left office in December of 1999. It's all a matter of record at City Hall. Check for yourselves.


By It was simple

Getting the facts straight

The prior poster (?“It was simple?”) states that Lee Gray ?“?… told me about the levy and the details IN FULL.?”

Unfortunately, I am concerned about Mr. Gray?’s details.

For instance, his comments in the ThisWeek (10/25/07) are factually incorrect. He states that Issue 8 ?“is not new?”.

By definition (meaning state law), Issue 8 IS a new (or, replacement) levy. It replaces an existing levy (also 5 mills) that expires on Dec 31, 2007.

If Issue 8 does not pass, the monies from the existing levy will cease to be collected as of Dec 31, 2007.

And the school district will lose $2.8 million per year next year - $1.4 million of which will directly impact THIS SCHOOL YEAR (2007-08).

By Need to be careful