Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Opinion & Editorial

The residents of Stevensville would be doing themselves a big favor if they took a little special interest in what the Town is doing at the sewer plant. Not just because the latest plans carry such a high price tag, but because the whole history of the recent upgrades smells a bit “off.”

First, there was the sewer bond that was originally passed. While it is true that the sewer was approaching capacity and was in need of repair and upgrade to meet federal standards for waste discharge, it is also true that certain developments on the horizon were going to be placing new demands on the system as well.

So the good citizens ponied up and passed a bond that would not only fix up the treatment plant but also accommodate a lot of new development. Did anyone really question how much the current taxpayers were actually subsidizing the new development with those improvements?

Then came the belated revelation, and this is where the smell really began to worsen, that no consideration was made in the bond for funding the operation and maintenance of the newly upgraded facility. So now we had a facility upgraded to meet our requirements and beyond, but no way to run it. “It was a mistake,” was the only answer we ever got for the oversight.

So then the good citizens accepted a hike in sewer fees. What else could we do? We had a good facility, but no way to run it. But you simply must do something with your waste. So we ponied up once again.

Now we are being told that a few requirements, with deadlines for meeting them, accompanied approval of the new facility. The mayor tells us that these requirements and the real cost of them was not made exactly clear at the time of approval. Now the cost has somehow come into focus. The latest study reveals that it will cost from $4.5 to $5.5 million.

This is not a good history. It is a rather smelly history.

We suggest that the good citizens of Stevensville take a close look at the study and the preferred options that are being recommended. Do they all make the best sense?

Here at the Star, we depend upon the good sense of the citizens of Stevensville. While we own a commercial building in town, we live out of town, and thus do not have the privilege (or is it a right? taxation without representation?) to vote on such matters. But we do have to pay the bill.

If you are also a taxpayer in Stevensville, we suggest you give it some thought. Something doesn’t smell right in all this.

Be sure to vote in school elections

Dear Editor,

On May 6, 2008, Hamilton School District voters will decide the fate of a $300,000 general fund mill levy requested by the Hamilton School Board of Trustees. The general fund provides support for the day-to-day operation of the school district. Included are salaries and benefits, utilities, supplies, building operations and maintenance, and technology. The levy request of $300,000 will increase mills by 14.33. On a house with an assessed market value of $100,000, the increase in taxes would be about $28.47 per year.

The best way to figure your own tax is to find the taxable value on your property tax statement. This is located in a box in the upper right hand corner of your statement. Multiply this amount by .01433. The result should be your annual tax increase.

The school board has looked closely at this issue over the past six months. They have determined that in order to maintain the current programs offered in the Hamilton district, the budget would need to be increased by an additional $300,000. This is largely due to the lack of funding from the state. For next year, the state increased the district’s funding for the general fund by less than 1.5%. This is inadequate to maintain the current day-to-day operations and programs of the district.

The district is currently funded at 86% of its budget authority or cap. The state sets the level of the district’s budget cap. Some class A school districts are funded at 100% of their budget cap. The statewide average funding for a class A district is 93% of the budget cap. With passage of the mill levy, Hamilton would be at 89% of its budget cap.

There is never a good time to ask voters for an increase in their taxes. This year is no exception. The school board has devoted many hours looking at this issue before deciding to take the levy to the voters. The board views investing in our kids as an investment in our community and our future. Additional information is available from the district office. Please call 363-2280, ext. 500, email levyinfo@hsd3.org or check the district website: www.hsd3.org.

Most importantly, exercise your democratic right by voting on May 6. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Hamilton High School which is located on Fairgrounds Road.

Duby Santee, Superintendent
Hamilton School District

Support for school levies

Dear Editor,

On May 6, Stevensville and Lone Rock School Districts will have school mill levies up for a vote. I encourage all who live in these districts to vote for the mill levies.

The funds requested are to keep our public schools in operation. I appreciate the high standard of education in our communities and want to see it continue.

I realize that many people living in Stevensville and Lone Rock school districts do not have children attending public school. However, the public schools are educating and training hundreds of children. These are our future adult leaders, business people, and contributors to society.

Please vote on May 6.

Ruth Kleinjan
Stevensville

Support for Stevi levy

Dear Editor,

Election Day is coming up fast and I don’t mean the one in June. On Tuesday, May 6th, voters are being asked to cast their votes to support the schools in their districts. In Stevensville, there is a proposed levy for $170,000 for operational costs in the high school. I’m sure that everyone has felt the effects of the cost of living increase. But a lot of people don’t realize how those rising costs have affected our schools. Schools are paying the same high prices for heating and transportation fuel, food, and basic supplies just like the rest of us.

I hope that everyone will remember to get out and support the schools, because they need your help. Please call your friends and neighbors and remind them that every vote does count!

A vote for your school is a vote for the future of the children in your community.

Cathi Cook, Trustee
Stevensville School Board

Voting for schools patriotic

Dear Editor,

Giving students a better education is one of the best investments this country can make. In the increasingly global economy the countries with the best-educated work force will be the winners.

Locally many of our schools are funded at only 80–85 percent of their maximum allowable budget. School boards are asking voters to approve levies that will increase budgets modestly.

On May 6, we can vote to make a small but important difference to more adequately fund the education of those who follow us. At the Stevensville Schools I believe the money will be carefully managed and well spent.

We currently enjoy huge tax breaks in this country. The resulting national debt may break us if we lack resolve. Let’s resolve to improve the education of those who are going to help us pay that debt. Votes against underfunded schools are votes in favor of America losing and becoming a second rate nation. Be patriotic. Be a winner. Vote for your local school on May 6.

Bill Goslin
Stevensville

Support for Stevi levy

Dear Editor,

Yesterday I made a bet with a friend and won!  Maybe you would like to make the same bet.  I bet the friend that the taxes and the mill levies for the Stevensville School District have gone down each year for the past three years.  Most of us assume that our taxes do nothing but go up, but over the past three years the total property taxes for the Stevensville Elementary and High School Districts have actually gone down $56,730 and the levies have gone down 11.15 mills.  At the same time, the expenses to operate the school have continued to escalate.

This year, the Stevensville School District has placed a $170,000 levy on the ballot. The money is desperately needed for textbooks, technology, facility maintenance, health insurance and wages.

Most folks are unaware that the students in the high school must sometimes share textbooks.  Consequently, in some subjects, students cannot bring “their” book home to use for study. In addition, all of the textbooks in the high school are old (some date back to 1991), are worn out, and need to be replaced.

The workplace is changing quickly and our children must have basic technological proficiency to compete in the job market in the future.  In order to provide an education relevant for today, the school needs to purchase additional hardware and software, and provide maintenance and staff training.

The facility is getting older. In order to preserve it and avoid costly repairs, it needs to be maintained and kept up to code. The school urgently needs new cafeteria tables, a new phone system, and it must comply with changes to the fire code. 

Next year health insurance costs alone are expected to rise 12%!  This amounts to a $48,000 increase.  In addition, our starting salary for teachers is the lowest in the area.  In order to recruit the best new teachers Stevensville Schools must be competitive. We also need to fairly compensate our other employees, such as paraprofessionals, cooks, custodians, and secretaries.

When the Stevensville Trustees considered all these needs, we also took into consideration the resources of the community. As a result, the levy does not do anything extravagant.

So, on May 6, I urge you to vote for the levy, so that Stevensville Schools can continue to offer our children a quality education.

Patricia Wilson Meakin, Trustee
Stevensville School District

Support for Lone Rock levy

Dear Editor,

Little Lone Rock has a big heart. Our school, arguably the first school in the entire state of Montana, has always been the centerpiece and social hub of the community. Lone Rock School District, however, has been operating from the smallest per-capita general operating fund of any school in the valley for quite a while now, at a scant 85% of what the other school districts in the Bitterroot average.

Yes, we have been frugal. We have skimped and saved in every area imaginable, while at the same time producing top-level students, prepared not only for high school, but college and beyond. But alas, our financial struggles have caught up with us. We are desperately in need of updating old text books—like math books that no longer are sufficient to prepare our kids for the current standardized tests, and social studies books which still feature the USSR. We need to have a full-time rather than part-time school counselor in order to retain our accreditation. Our loyal teaching staff must legally be increasingly compensated for their years of service and continuing education.

These pressing issues and more have a direct impact on the quality of education we are able to provide to our students in the coming years. Lone Rock is legally entitled to ask the voters for more than three times what is being proposed in the bond initiative, May 6. But the current school board and the administration (who, by the way, are all keepers) know that the little folks like us have been hit hard by rising costs of living and can’t afford a big contribution.

As a parent and a regular volunteer at the school, I have seen what a wonderful place it is. I believe that the current school board, Mr. Cleveland, Ms. Tiplady and Mr. Leese, are courageously committed to the best interests of our community’s children. They aren’t asking for much, really, and the education of our kids is worth it. Can’t we pull together as a community once again, as we’ve been doing for generations, and help Lone Rock School continue to be a shining light in our community?

Please come out to the school on May 6, from noon to 8 p.m., and show your support for our kids by voting YES on the levy.

Sherry Chidwick
Stevensville

Support for Stevi levy

Dear Editor,

I would just like to encourage you to get out and vote in favor of the high school levy on Tuesday, May 6th. Our teens deserve the very best shot at an education that will allow them to integrate both into our community and the society as a whole. Your positive vote will send a loud message that you value them as well as the staff and faculty committed to providing a solid, worthwhile educational environment.

Shari Feeser
Stevensville

Support for Stevi levy

Dear Editor,

Our children deserve the best chance at success that we can give them. One of the most important factors in their success is a good education. A good education is not limited to learning how to read, write, and do basic math anymore. In today’s world, our children are expected to have computer skills and problem solving skills that prepare them for a fast-paced world where almost every job uses technology of some kind. For most of us, a good education in a safe learning environment is what we expect our children to receive at whatever school they attend. We expect that they will graduate from high school with the knowledge they will need to go out and be successful at whatever they choose to do.

Here in Stevensville, we are very fortunate to have a dedicated group of teachers and administrators who do their very best every day to make sure our children get a good education. How can we expect them to do this with outdated technology in buildings that are in serious need of repair and renovation? How can we expect our children to be educated for the challenges of today’s world when they are learning from books that were, in some cases, published 18 years ago?

Our community should not have to wait until our school has hit rock bottom before we support it. We should be proud of the Stevensville School system and how hard it has worked as a whole to make the best out of the funding and resources that it has. It is time that we make an investment in the future of our children and our town by voting to pass the High School Levy. We are asking our school to produce the leaders of tomorrow and they cannot accomplish this without our support. On May 6, I urge you to support your high school and send your children the message that says, “Yes, your education is important to me.”

Leslie Nalls
Stevensville

Support for Stevi, Lone Rock levies

Dear Editor,

Please support the mill levies for the Stevensville High School and the Lone Rock Elementary School. Schools are no different in their needs to address the problems facing our society and our families at home.  Increased costs of utilities, food, and fuel are being felt by all of us. Utilities, food, technology, and textbooks are also creating added burdens on schools. A warm dry place to learn, materials to work with, smaller class sizes, and caring staff members help make schools successful.

          However, it really is the community where a school is located that drives everything that the school is about.  Successful communities have successful schools. Help keep our schools and our communities successful.

Wayne Stanford
Stevensville

Support for Stevi school levy

Dear Editor,

Stevensville High School needs to stay competitive. If it does not stay competitive it will end up being staffed by teachers who cannot get a job elsewhere and will be attended by students whose parents can't afford to move them to a better school. It will resemble a car that does not get any maintenance and is driven by someone who cannot afford anything better.

Currently the High School is funded by 81% of the monies available to it. It is one of the lowest percentages of funding for Class A schools in the state. Most school funding is close to 100%. Increasing the percentage of available monies that may be spent on the High School requires voter approval of a levy.

It is always possible to nitpick about how school monies are spent, but if the High School does not look at the big picture and the future, it will end up far behind the area schools in the quality of instruction and will take much larger amounts of money in the future just to catch up.

The current levy request is for $170,000. If passed it will bring us up to 86% of the monies that are available with voter approval.

I recommend passage of this levy in the May 6 school election.

Ed Cummings, Trustee
Stevensville School Board

Council behavior inappropriate

Dear Editor,

“Holy Shit” was Councilman Tom Brown’s reaction to a private individual who was called upon during the Public Opinion portion of the Stevensville Town Council Meeting on April 14, 2008.

I brought Councilman Brown’s rude behavior to the attention of the Stevensville Mayor and in return received only a look of confusion from Councilman Brown, not an apology to the individual or anyone else in the packed room. As a matter of fact, Councilman Brown denied his reaction, causing two other people in the room to testify they too heard Brown’s response which caused Councilman Brown to turn red faced.

I have to wonder if Councilman Brown realized he used his “out loud voice” when he began squirming in his chair and thought no one heard him.

Has no one ever brought up the Councilman’s rude behavior towards the public before? I watched and listened to Councilman Brown during the evening say “Jesus Christ” under his breath as different individuals discussed topics of concern in the Town of Stevensville.

The defensiveness of the Council is inappropriate, the manner in which the public are responded to is offensive, and many issues are tabled and not resolved in a timely manner.

The community of Stevensville has a good foundation, which includes in town and out of town residents, and in spite of that, Mayor Meisner continues to divide our community.

People in the community are friendly, helpful, willing to pitch in and help out, however, our Town government is lacking in professionalism, follow through and support for its citizens.

Mayor Meisner stated in the same meeting “it is none of your damn business” when being questioned about the current situation at Town Hall. I think it is our “damn business” (as the Mayor puts it) when our taxes contribute to the Town of Stevensville and document shredding is being investigated, an internal investigation is being conducted, the Town police have been asked to cut back on patrols, and the Council meetings get out of hand because our Mayor is defensive when asked if corruption is a concern.

Maybe the voters need to make it their business, get involved and take a hard look at the present Council and make some changes sooner than later.

There is a lot to learn about the Town of Stevensville and if you have not been to a Council meeting in awhile or ever, I suggest you start attending… it is free to attend and an educational experience you will never forget.

Meetings are held every second and fourth Monday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall located at 206 Buck Street in beautiful downtown Stevensville.

JoyceAnne Jodsaas
Stevensville

Tap into zoning process

Dear Editor,

Citizens of Ravalli County, I strongly urge you to tap into the zoning process currently underway in our county. I do not think that there is any way we are going to avoid being zoned, and the next time the issue comes around, we may not have the opportunity for citizen input like we currently have. There are a lot of people who see this solely as a taking of private property rights, and "just want the process to stop."

Please don't do this. There are thousands of citizen hours, and a large amount of your taxpayers’ money already spent on this issue. Join in, work through the process, and tell the Commissioners through Clarion what YOU want, and HOW you want your property and neighborhoods to be.

You have until May 16 to obtain a copy of the 64-page Draft B regulation proposal, and recommend changes/omissions to that document. There were substantial changes made from Draft A to Draft B—all because of previous citizen comments. Ultimately, we have until October or so to get these regulations written so that they represent what we citizens want, or can live with. Please take the time to read them, and express yourself.

The first draft of the proposed zoning maps were available for the public on April 26. You have until May 23 to voice your opinion about it. Clarion will be hosting a meeting for public clarification and comments on the maps on May 6, from 6 until 9 p.m. at the First Interstate Center of the Ravalli County Fairgrounds. Please look at the maps, and express the changes you think are necessary.

The Stevensville CPC will be hosting an Open House on May 17 at the Stevensville Senior Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and both the Draft B regulations, and the zoning maps will be available for public perusal. Members of the Stevensville zoning committee will be there to answer questions, explain what they have done in the zoning process thus far, and take comments and opinions to pass forward to Clarion.

This is your county, your property, and your chance for your say in its future. Please tap into the process, so that we end up with OUR zoning.

Jane Lambert
Stevensville

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