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Show American Fork Citizen New Utah - Thursday, July 15, 2003 - Page 2 Opinion 1I!!B Split can be successful - later 3 Congratulations to Steel Days committee The Ad I loc Committee members' tank studying the consequences of a Pioneer District is over. There are 29 days left to express your opinion to the Utah County Commission on the propoHcd district split of the Alpine School Iistrict. All of the committee members deserve accolades for their time and dedication to compiling research on the creation of a new school district in north Utah County. It was neither a light nor easy task. Their findings were illuminating. All committee memlx-rs hut one, Representative David Cox voted against dividing the Alpine School District, citing financial and litigation litiga-tion concerns for their decision. Cox, who created the state legislation making such a split possible, believes if the proposal fails, taxpayers taxpay-ers will not get another chance to divide the district. We disagree. District divisions have been successfully undertaken in many states as the Ad Hoc Committee's Com-mittee's own research has shown. Those prior districts were divided for transportation, cultural and other definitive reasons. Research on the fiscal consequences conse-quences of a split also showed this was not the time for such a division lecause of the burden that would be placed on taxpayers in the proposed ( Pioneer District. Additionally, there is a need to further clarify and define items in the ordinance before Cox's law is workable legislation. Utah County Attorney Rolx'rt J. Moore cited possible pos-sible litigation because of insuffi cient protection for current district employees, The creation of a new school district from an existing school district can be best characterized character-ized as a divorce and probably a messy one in that." The decision should be made calmly and based on facts, and the facts show now is not the time for such a division. The law needs to be improved and the tax base needs to grow Ix'fore such a division is practical. prac-tical. The committee's research, correspondence corre-spondence and statements are available for public viewing on the Internet at www.co.utah.ut.us or at your city hall. Taxpayers in the Alpine School District IxiundarieB have until Aug. 13 to voice an opinion on whether or not they think the district should be divided and a new school district created - the Pioneer School District. Dis-trict. You can be heard by e-mail or through a survey on the county's Web site, www.co.utah.ut.us, or by mailing your opinion to the Utah County Commission at 100 E. Center Cen-ter Street, Suite. 2300, lVovo, UT 84606. There will also be a public hearing hear-ing where you can speak for or against the proposal on July 28 at 5:30 p.m. in the County Commission chambers. After the 45-day public input process is completed and all opinion is compiled, the Commission will make its decision as to whether the item is placed on the ballot. Now is the time to express your opinion. I could tell what kind of a week it had been when I got ready to go to church. I was rushing to finish a report that was due later in the day. I got it done right before it was time to leave. With a feeling of accomplishment, accom-plishment, I grabbed my scriptures scrip-tures and books from the table and reached for my camera. Wait....I don't need to take my camera to church. It had become bo much a part of my routine, especially during the last week, that I felt I couldn't leave home without it. During the week of Steel Days, my camera had become virtually an extension of my left arm. Wasn't our celebration good this year? Before it started I had some apprehension and I know I was not the only one. Many of the committee members mem-bers were new in January. While that sounds like a lot of time to get trained and ready to put on a function in July, it brings hard- (Mm " ships to new individuals. Most residents do not realize that the Steel Days committee works year-round to prepare for the week's festivities. Of course, December work is not at the feverish fever-ish pace of that in June, but it is still necessary to lay the groundwork. ground-work. As the celebration approached, it was clear how important the voice of experience is in making preparations. The new individuals on the committee did not have previous years to look back on to base their plans. Despite that drawback, they came through, and very well at that. In the planning stages, different differ-ent items were mentioned that needed to be added to the preparations. prepa-rations. It seemed that for every task accomplished, five more would be added to the list. At the actual celebration, I witnessed wit-nessed a time when a need became apparent and had to be taken care of immediately. The individuals working on that event rose to the occasion and met the need. Their blood pressure may have risen, but the public was served. This year's celebration was toned down a bit from last year's sesquicentennial, but the spirit was definitely there. I imagine there were people watching this year's committee, wondering if they would be able to pull it off or if it would turn into a catastrophe. We should all offer congratulations congratula-tions to those willing to step up to help their community and volunteer volun-teer their time and talents to offer us all a great time. I'm proud to be from American Fork. ALPINE After many months of work, and after following the suggested suggest-ed changes of city leaders, developer devel-oper Rob Clawson has been granted final approval by the Alpine Planning Commission for the Alpine Commons subdivision at the west end of Allegheny Drive. The subdivision, upon final approval of the City Council, Coun-cil, will consist of seven lots and a park that will be completed by Clawson. HIGHLAND Long time Highland residents Johnnie and Jeannine Iverson have been selected for the 2004 Grand Marshalls of the Highland High-land Fling to be held the first week in August. They have worked tirelessly in scouting and have made their 40 acres available for camps and outdoor activities for 20 or more groups each summer. Kathryn Schramm who nominated them said, "Johnnie and Jeannine have served others in Highland for over 35 years and have never sought recognition for their contributions. con-tributions. However, 1 believe, their service and dedication are worthy of the this honor from the people of Highland." Reader's Forum School district splitting not a good idea Editor: I have attended some ad hoc committee meetings on the proposed split of Alpine School District. I was at the meeting when the committee members had to declare opposition or approval of recommendations rec-ommendations on the split for forwarding to the Utah County Commissioners. The five memlx-rs opposing oppos-ing the split based their decisions on the projected 40 percent property tax increase and how this deterrent deter-rent would impact our children's chil-dren's overall educational opportunities. Another impact which was never debated nor addressed fully during these meetings was what impacts this increase would have on the cities of Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain as to their competition to attract economic development, develop-ment, commercial or industrial indus-trial or the impact it would have on existing businesses in these areas. Time constraints con-straints on the committee hampered their discussion and debate on this topic. Having served on the Lehi City Council, I know that Lehi is very active in " seeking economical develop- " ment. The development west of Lehi indicates the other two cities are receptive to this type of development. In the past I have met with developers trying to sell our city as the place where their development should locate. I know how competitive cities have to be for consideration. A 40 percent tax increase on our properties to fund a new school district "because it's the right time to do this" does not make sense (cents)! Not only would those who can least afford such an increase, recent move ins and those living on fixed incomes, but our competitive edge for economic development develop-ment ,'to increase our tax base and our current busi ness climate would be greatly great-ly stymied. - Wayne Carlton Lehi Rep. D. Cox rebuffs split volleys Editor: Since it now appears unlikely that any debate will be arranged before the July 28 public hearing, I would like to respond to the charges made against the Alpine School District Division proposal. pro-posal. The proposed Pioneer District Dis-trict would geographically be equal in size to the rest of the district, and Lehi is now the third largest city behind Orera in Utah County. The proposed district would be bigger than two-thirds of the districts in the state, with over 8,000 students, and growing. Much research is available avail-able on my Web site at www.smalIerschools.org that shows the value of community-sized districts and the problems that bigger districts dis-tricts create, including the strong tendency to build bigger, big-ger, more extravagant schools instead of neighborhood neighbor-hood schools, the organization organiza-tion becoming more of a big bureaucracy, and the U-shaped U-shaped diseconomies of scale (costs go up if the organization gets too big as well as too small ). The opponents oppo-nents seem unwilling to discuss dis-cuss or even read any of this information specifically, so let's discuss their charges. The big one is cost Will the division result in a 40 percent increase in school taxes over five years (24 percent of total property tax or $100 on a $100,000 home per year)? This is about the rate of increase we have been experiencing experi-encing anyway. Creating a Pioneer District does not automatically raise taxes by itself. Taxes would only go up if the new board voted to. The projection, which did include new buildings, was figured only from averages and based on current expenditures. No actual revenues were calculated calcu-lated because the District and the State Office of Education said it would be too hard to figure. The actual, complete tax base was also not computed. comput-ed. The vast majority of your property tax for schools is taken by the state, added to by the state income tax, and redistributed so that funding for each student is equalized regardless of the tax base of each area in the state. There are a few additional small revenue streams that are subject to the tax base in the general fund. Last year these included the voted leeway -$9.7 (million), board leeway -$3.0M, recreation - $0.8M, transportation extras $1.3M, tort liability $0.2M, and an additional amount allowed called 10 percent of basic - $6.9M, totaling about $22 million. Out of a general fund budget of about $230 million that is about 10 percent per-cent So only 10 percent of the general fund (which pays for salaries, benefits, and programs) is based on tax base. In other words we might drop a percent or two in the general fund overall because of tax base. That doesn't mean a big tax increase or cuts in benefits and salaries. Bonding for buildings, on the other hand, is based on tax base almost completely (some comes from the state). We would have to change some things on the kinds of schools we would build. Many districts nationwide are going to K-8 grammar schools or 7-12 high schools and are doing away with junior jun-ior highs (usually the worst time of their K-12 experience) experi-ence) as they can. These schools can be built in walking walk-ing neighborhoods, saving transportation costs for both schools and parents, and are still more efficient to build than current practice. They also have better student behavior and scores, parental involvement, and support from the community. The teachers' union is charging that all teachers would stay with the old side of the district, which would then lay off younger teachers for the new district to hire. This is obstructionist nonsense. non-sense. Employees would stay in the buildings they are currently cur-rently teaching in with all their accrued seniority, etc It is regrettable that union threats of litigation are being made because they are only made to prevent the division by intimidation, rather than to protect the teachers. There are currently less than half of the teachers in the Pioneer area that are members of the union and they are afraid this could become the first nonunion non-union district in the state. Will the teachers' salary and benefits only be guaranteed guaran-teed for one year? Yes, that's all they are now in the District. Dis-trict. Each year the District negotiates a contract, which can be changed from year to year. The new district would have to be free to negotiate (with or without a union) with the teachers for future years. It wouldn't be fair to bind them to what some other district did, would it? Pioneer District will have to compete with Alpine, Provo, Nebo, Jordan, and others for teachers and so salaries are not going to go down. It is possible that we would change our priorities on some programs. Some might get more, some less, but we would decide what our communities thought was most important instead of six other board members from other communities. The opponents claim that we are not listening to the community, that they are the vast majority. If so, why are they so afraid of letting this go to a vote? The best way to kill it is to have it voted down. It would then never come up again. There was no way to divide a district in statute before. Now there is a methodical process that we are engaged in which gets the issue out in the open. If there are hidden agendas, they are coming from those who don't want it to come for a vote. Ultimately, if placed on the ballot, the voters decide. They have a right to form their own district if they desire! The schools belong to the people! The union didn't buy them. Our parents and we did! Are there risks with forming form-ing a new district? Of course, you can't have freedom without with-out risk. Could taxes go up? (I think they will, even if we don't divide.) Could we mess it all up? Of course, but I have more faith in us than that. We are a free people. We built a state and a nation. We can build a new district for our children's sake. - David N. Cox State Representative Fifth grade teacher Resident responds to Cox Letter Editor: While I agree that the timing of the Alpine District split is wrong, the idea of a division may eventually prove right at a future day, given the growth potential in western Utah County and Cedar Valley. At that day, and under better bet-ter circumstances, Representative Represen-tative David Cox may take some satisfaction in being Been as a man of some vision, and a leader who was ahead of his time and critics in this matter. Visionaries do invite critics, for they risk speaking truth and encouraging others toward sometimes difficult but necessary changes. Thank you, Representative Representa-tive Cox, for having the courage to address real and difficult local issues by suggesting sug-gesting imaginative possibilities possibil-ities for us to grapple with. You deserve our respect for providing us with a civics lesson on the democratic process, a process we risk losing if not well understood or often exercised. For this reason, the outcome out-come of the "division debate is not as important, ultimately, ulti-mately, as preserving the thorny process of democratic citizen-debate and decision making that your leadership invites. And part of that democratic process should be, in my opinion, to let an informed voting public (not a volunteer committee or county official) be the last word on such an important matter as the division of a "public" school district - Jim Birrell Lehi Resident responds to Nuisance Abatement Editor: In regards to the article by Harold Smith last week in reference to the Nuisance Abatement Committee. Evidently you don't have to look out your window or go out in your yard and see what I have to look at day after day. I have lived on this corner cor-ner since 1952 and it has been a very pleasant place to live. But things have changed. We now have a used car lot of old trucks and cars, and a massive amount of disconstruction to the lot on the north east corner. Where once this home and yard were very well kept and a pleasure to look at. Mr. Smith take a ride in American Fork to 100 west and 200 north and ask yourself if it is OK for people peo-ple to live like this. God gave us all strengths to take care of what he gives us. But some people don't use those strengths to pick trash up or have any respect for neighbors. I realize real-ize some people have more than others, but to me this is just plain laziness. What would you have the city do? - Edna Tittensor i |