OCR Text |
Show RDA War Goes On City Escrows Funds, Hits School Board Pocketbook In what City Manager Arlene Loble admits is an attention getting ploy, the City has placed the Board of Education in what may prove to be a tight spot in the suit brought by the Board against the City. What the City did was this. When their payment on the Marsac School became due last month, in the amount of approximately $160,000, the City paid the money into escrow with the Court . instead of paying it to the Board of Education. The Motion by the City to have the funds remain in escrow until the suit is concluded will be heard by the court next Monday with the other .law and motion matters brought by the City. In their regular meeting Tuesday night the Board of Education announced what the City had done, and said, in effect, they might have done the same had the tables been turned. Richard Goodworth, the Superintendent Superinten-dent of Schools, stated the loss of the funds would not affect the schools' operating budget for some months, but could later have an effect on the capital outlay portion of their budget. In the meantime, the Board has instructed its attorney to meet with the City's attorney and to try to find ways to settle the suit along the lines outlined by the City Manager in the joint meeting held by the Board and the City Council. The School Board used almost their entire Newsletter Newslet-ter this month to explain the lawsuit and why they filed it. They list five underlying factors about which the Board has been concerned and two questions which they have been often asked about the litigation. The five factors are:. (1) Establishment of RDA - the Board points out when the RDA was formed the Board was informed it would be for a period of five years, which has now expired. The Board also states the RDA boundaries bound-aries have been radically changed since the formation of the Rda. (2) Lack of Input into RDA Decisions -The Board expresses its concern that they have not allowed to be even on an advisorv council to the RDA. (3) Lack of Accountability -The Board states: "The American system is designed so that those officials spending spend-ing the taxpayers monies may be voted into, or out of office by those paying the taxes. The utilization of monies by the RDA which would otherwise be applicable appli-cable to the school 'district, causes the district to increase in-crease taxes on all property within the school district, much of it outside the city limits. Many people are paying consistently higher taxes who reside in the school district but not in the city, and therefore have no opportunity to vote on the elected officials who spend the money. A second area of lack of accountability is in the voters authorization for the sale of bonds. All taxing entities, such as school districts, cities, etc., must go to a vote of the people before bonds may be issued. The redevelopment agency is not mandated to go to a vote for any authorization. The district has requested that the RDA ask the citizens to make such authorization." (4) Cost of RDA to Taxpayers - These costs are cited for the reader. And (5) The RDA Projects - The Board questions some of the decisions of the RDA on how they use their funds. The two questions perhaps best state the position of the Board in the suit. The first is: Why did the district file the suit now? The answer reads: When originally presented pre-sented to the Board, a five year limit was set. This is the fifth year and the RDA has not lived up to its commitment to be complete in that time. Secondly, each year the RDA budget has increased. Since the school district became involved with the RDA, the financial impact has multiplied by 10 times. This year it approximately approxi-mately doubled over last year, causing severe impact to the projected school district revenues, creating a substantial impact on the district's capability to sell its authorized bonds. Thirdly, the Park City Redevelopment Agency is costing Park City School District $387.58 weighted pupil unit (WPU), the second highest cost per WPU is in Salt Lake City at $48.71. Fourthly, the unwillingness unwill-ingness of the city to grant representation and input into RDA decisions caused concern. con-cern. To the second question, "Is the school district just being greedy?", the Board answers: ans-wers: The district has been trying for the past several years to balance the redevelopment redev-elopment needs of the city with the concern over increased in-creased taxes within the city and county. The school district is entitled to all monies under its levy without with-out the impact of the redevelopment agency. The district is requesting only what legally belongs to the school district. As one of Utah's most rapidly growing districts, money is needed in the capital as well as the program areas. This year the district is significantly impacted by the RDA. |