Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Beechwood Spends $13,071/Kid

Anonymous,

I am sorry to disappoint you, but the income & property taxes that I pay PLSD is far more than the local cost of the education of my sons. And, I would be delighted to pay more to educate my sons and the rest of the community's.

Are you advocating that parents pay for the education of their own kids (a pay to learn system), users pay for the cost of fire and police protection, seniors pay for their own health care & retirement costs?

I am sure (if you get and read the Columbus Dispatch) you were very interested in the front page article today on our investment in the education of our children. We invest $3,171 per child whereas Beechwood invests $13,071. Did you take great pride in the fact that as the state's 11th highest in terms of medium household income, we were the 247th highest in terms of support for our children.

I guess you know you are NOT in Pickerington when ...

1. Student/teacher ratios are 12 to 1
2. There are 14 advanced courses at the high school.
3. The voters have NEVER defeated a bond issue and/or operating levy.
4. There are computers for every student
5. 9.8 mill operating levy is approved by 72% voters in May 2002
6. The community cares for their future and invests $13,071 per child in their education

I guess, anonymous, you looked a bit selfish & self-centered according to the Dispatch article!

School Taxes -Beachwood v. PLSD

I have a few more details to share about the Columbus Dispatch article today entitled ?“School taxes ?… In some areas, residents keep giving and giving.?” The Dispatch featured the ?‘generous people of Beachwood?’.

Here is how Pickerington compares with the generous people of Beachwood (Pickerington v. Beachwood:

Local Revenue Per Pupil: $3,171 v. $13,071
Medium Household Income: $46,683 v. $44,568
Approx. % of Local Revenue Paid by Residents: 88% v 40%
Approx. Per Pupil Paid by Residents: $2,790 v. $5,206
Number of Students: 7372 v. 1551
Advanced Placement Courses: 7 v. 14
Av. Student Per Teacher: 20.1 v. 11.1

It is also important to note again that Beachwood has never turned down an operating levy or bond issue. Last month, 72% of voters supported a 9.8 mill operating levy in Beachwood compared to 61% of the Pickerington voters supporting a 2.3 mill renewal levy.

In essence, each household in Beachwood earning far less spends far more per pupil to support the education of their children than we do in Pickerington.

If the Columbus Dispatch labels people in Beachwood generous, I wonder what the Cleveland Plain Dealer would label the people in Pickerington?

Mark the whole truth PLEASE!

Mark

That was the greatest piece of BU------IT I have ever heard you put out on this web site.

I guess you have a reading disability to go along with some of your other finer points. Mr. Uher where does that $13,071 per pupil come from in Beachwood? Uher, 60% of their per pupil monies comes from BISINESSES. Pickerington has less than 13% of its tax base is business or commercial. Then you try to impress us with how much you pay in taxes. So as a business man you have chosen to roll your money back into the corporation or pay taxes on it and spend it now.

You claim that you pay over $12,942 per year in school taxes. Wow that sounds great now if you want to reach the level of Beachwood your share would be at least $52,824. Well hot shot are you willing to come up with that kind of money for our school system? It probably would be closer to $60,000 per year for your share Mark, mainly because if we have more property valuation per child, then the state would cut back on its share to the school district.

Even the article in the dispatch plays along the same line as you do. The Dispatch describes the people of Beachwood as generous. Yet they only increased their taxes by $300 per $100,000 home. If Pickerington increased their milage by that amount it would cost the owner of a $100,000 nearly twice the amount. When are you idiots going to get it? PICKERINGTON NEEDS MORE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY TO BALANCE ITS TAX BASE FOR THE SCHOOLS.

Now Mark let?’s look at the new homes going into Sycamore creek subdivision at $150,000 per house. They will pay PLSD about $2000 in property taxes two years after they move in. Meantime the rest of us are educating their kids for the two years. This holds true for all NEW BUILTS. To qualify for a $130,000 loan the residents must make in the neighborhood $55,000 per year. That means we subtract from the property tax and add to the income tax of about $500 per year from these homes. So using your logic these folks must come up with $10,000 or more per year in school taxes, otherwise they will be labeled greedy by you and your zealots.

Now what happens to the price of homes in the school district if you go to sell your house that you think is worth say $350,000? Your home valuation is determined by the MARKET. If you go to sell and you must compete with 25 new homes at $350,000 then the only way to sell yours in a reasonable time frame is to lower the asking price. Those selling prices are then recorded at the county which then determines the market value of the homes here in the Pickerington Area. The schools R.E. is down also.


Mark until people like you wake up this school district will continue to sink in over whelming debt. We will never reach the per pupil dollar levels of Beachwood, Cuyahoga Heights, or even Upper Arlington. As long as you and your friends continue to support the likes of the local developers and this City Council we will continue in our present course. I think instead of calling us all greedy you should try to find out how Beachwood got their commercial property percentages so high. Then maybe we will start up that path of getting more money for our students.


By Joe Sixpack

Joe 6Pack-- Do the Math Please!!

Joe Sixpack,

I'm not sure you read the Dispatch or my posting comparing Beachwood with Pickerington. Or is it you have some problems with math?

Yes, Beachwood did get 60% of local revenue from business. And, yes, Pickerington receives only 12% from business. However, if you do the simple math calculations for the non-business residents(I will help ... for Beachwood it is $13,071 times 40% equals $5,228; and for Pickerington it is $3,171 times 88% equals $2,790), you will agree with my conclusions that residents in Beachwood with lower medium household income pay far more per student in local taxes than we do.

I do agree with you that we need to expand our commercial tax base in both the City of Pickerington AND Violet Township. Let's not forget that Violet Township can attract commercial development too. You can log onto Deerfield Township, Ohio's website and find out how a township in Ohio does so well in attracting business. The last time I looked there was lots of undeveloped land - ripe for commercial development - in Violet Township.

Joe Sixpack, did receive your reading and math education from Dawson-Bryant Local School District that spends just $711 from each of its local property owners on each of its students?