Category: Whitehall

All at once I got a funny feelin’
That something around here was goin on wrong
Hmm
So you know what I did Jimmy?
What?
I got up and I began to look all around for my baby
Was that it?
That was it, you know the woman had packed up and gone
Oh lord

IF IT WASN’T FOR BAD LUCK
Ray Charles

I think everyone understands that taxes are a part of life and I think everyone also believes that most public officials try their best to conserve resources when possible.

Having said that though, what troubles me most about the Whitehall School system is that there has always been very little effort put into a.) watching the taxpayers dollars once they’re in the public coffers and b.) the effort that is made is so cavalier it borders on the bizarre. It would be actually funny at times if it wasn’t for the damage it was doing to the community as a whole. The school board cannot shake their belief that the taxpayers’ pockets are endlessly deep.

What is going on now in Whitehall, with the closing of numerous businesses and the inability of people to sell their own real estate, is that the powers that be in the school district and town have made Whitehall too expensive to live in and there is very little effort being made to do those things to bring people into the community.

What is needed to spur the town forward is a dramatic decrease in the costs associated with living in the confines of Whitehall’s taxing districts. Every year the town stagnates more and taxes are increased, so what we’re all seeing in the demise of Whitehall is a natural outgrowth of years of poor stewardship and planning along with out of control spending combined with a lack of vision. The one thing that Whitehall needs most: a dramatic decrease in taxes, is the one thing that those who are mainly responsible for the tax policy of the community cannot even seem to entertain.

A small example illustrates my point. A few weeks ago, I wrote of the sad vandalism to the playground at the Whitehall School — a child’s slide appeared to have been deliberately broken. The presence of high-tech cameras at the playground, paid for by the taxpayers, were apparently irrelevant to this.

Recently, a reader snapped some photos of the school’s response, which does not involve any actual repair – instead, the school has apparently simply used plywood to render the entire slide – not just the damaged center section – unusable. Perhaps something more permanent is planned – but if so, why not fix it in the summer, when school is not in session?

Courtesy of taxpayers, the Whitehall school system treats students to amenities you’d expect to see on the Queen Mary 2, including tennis courts and an indoor swimming pool. Now the school is funding a complete overhaul of the auditorium as well, despite well-documented plummeting enrollment.

Leaving aside whether large capital improvements are necessary, how can the school board be trusted to undertake projects – with our money – when they can’t even properly fix a broken plastic child’s slide or identify the culprits with high tech security cameras?

Oh yeah?
Lord have mercy
I, I, I, I can understand it, it made you feel like you wanna holler a little bit
Made me feel like I wanna
Aahhhhhhh-ow!
Yeah man, when I run into that situation, makes me wanna cry a little
bit like this
Ooh-hoo!

IF IT WASN’T FOR BAD LUCK
Ray Charles

Recently a reader of the Huletts Current stopped by the playground at the Whitehall school district and emailed me these photographs. As you can see for yourself, the playground was in poor condition due to ignorance and vandalism.

A used, dirty diaper was left rotting in the sun, with garbage littered nearby. This was in clear eyesight from the school.

A used, dirty diaper and garbage were found littering the Whitehall’s school playground.

A slide in the playground was found vandalized and our reader pointed out that the plastic is really hard – it’s meant to stand up to kids running up it, etc. The only way this would get smashed would be if someone took a very large rock, brick, etc., and really put some force into deliberately breaking it – which seems to be what happened.

A hard plastic children’s slide was found bashed in most likely by a rock or hard object.

The slide, which is hollow, was filled with water from the rain, attracting bugs and mosquitoes.

The perimeter of the school is full of security cameras. It would be interesting to know if the high tech surveillance was capable of catching the culprits of this desecration of school property. (And those cameras did not come cheap.)

I think what is most frustrating to the taxpayers of the district, is that not only do we feel we are being overtaxed, but it also seems that the administration is very cavalier in protecting the investments that the taxpayers do make. Sadly, this is a perfect illustration of how the playground is cared for by the school and thought of by some of the people using it.

(Click on pictures to see full-view.)

On Wednesday, June 29th, the Whitehall School District had a special election to vote on two propositions:

Both propositions passed.

Results for Proposition 1 (Replacement Auditorium Roof $115,000)
65 to 3 in favor of passage.

Results for Proposition 2 (Renovation of Auditorium Interior $510,000)
57 to 5 in favor of passage.

All I can say is that Whitehall is not going to turn its fortunes around going down this path of taxing and spending like crazy while the rest of the town and village are in a state of permanent malaise.

Whitehall Central School District
Notice of Capital Project

Notice is Given that a special meeting of the qualified voters of the Whitehall Central School District, Washington County, New York, will be held in the Large Group Instruction Room in the Junior-Senior High School Building on Buckley Road in the Town of Whitehall, New York, on June 29, 2011 between the hours of 12:00 o’clock noon (E.S.T.) and 8:00 o’clock P.M. (E.S.T.) during which hours the polls will be opened to vote by voting machines upon the following items.

PROPOSITION #1

RESOLVED:

a.) That the Board of Education of Whitehall Central School District (the “District”) is hereby authorized to remove and replace the existing Jr-Sr High School Auditorium Roof within the Jr-Sr High School on Buckley Road in the town of Whitehall. b.) That there is hereby appropriated to this project to be paid from a Board of Education authorized transfer from the General Fund to a Capital Project account for the sole purpose of said Roof replacement in an amount not to exceed $115,000.

PROPOSITION #2

RESOLVED:

a.) That the Board of Education of Whitehall Central School District (the “District”) is hereby authorized to renovate and reconstruct the existing Jr-Sr High School Auditorium located on Buckley Road in the town of Whitehall. Said alterations are to include the removal and replacement of existing seating, staging, carpeting, rigging and lighting (both House and Theatrical), ceiling painting and repairs and alterations/upgrades to the existing sound system in conjunction herewith to install such other appurtenance and improvements as are related of such infrastructure, including, such original furnishing, equipment and apparatus as may be required therefore to the Jr-Sr High School Auditorium. The estimated cost thereof being a total estimated maximum cost of $510,000; that such sum or so much thereof as may be necessary shall be appropriated to this project from the “Future Renovations to the Elementary and Jr/Sr High School Buildings Capital Reserve Fund” as established on May 20, 2003

Dated May 9, 2011

By order of the Board of Education
Martha P. Bascue
School District Clerk

Another Whitehall store sits empty while municipal officials spend extravagantly on unnecessary projects.

At a time when Whitehall is literally flooded, no new businesses are coming into the area, and school enrollment is dropping faster that Newton’s apple, what does the school board in its “wisdom” decide to do?

If you guessed, approve a special election on June 29th to vote on spending $625,000 in reserve funds to completely reconstruct the school’s auditorium, you clearly know how the Whitehall school board operates. School officials trot out their standard lines that it will have no impact on taxes when in fact the effect has already been felt because we have already been taxed for this money.

Sadly, this is why Whitehall is at the tipping point as an area in rapid decline. Instead of attracting new business, focusing on lowering the tax base and stabilizing the population, Whitehall is doing everything in its power to destroy the tax base and drive out those who would consider investing in the community.

Additionally when municipalities across the country are working on shedding costs and tightening their fiscal belts, the town and village of Whitehall are considering acquiring the former armory that the state of New York is trying to give away. (That’s correct, the state of NY doesn’t want it but Whitehall may acquire it.) It has been reported that a new roof for the armory alone may cost $400,000.

Every year when passing through Whitehall it seems that things continue to slide downhill. This is in spite of the fact that Whitehall has many natural advantages; its location on a major thoroughfare between Vermont and New York, a train stop three and half hours from Manhattan, summer tourism, and even the local scenery. Somehow, Whitehall is never able to fully capitalize on any of these great assets.

Why then is Whitehall stuck in a permanent state of demise? This is my opinion.

For many years, Whitehall has suffered from very poor local leadership. This applies across the spectrum from town and village officials to members of the school board. The first course of action seems to be always to raise taxes and very little is done to save money or cut taxes, market the community or reach out to business owners. When a developer approached Whitehall last year about building a new supermarket and restaurant, the proposal went nowhere.

What should Whitehall do? What has been shown to work in other states and municipalities?

Cut taxes everywhere, try to get new business to come into the area, use the area’s assets to invite people in, not drive them out. Be encouraging and helpful to those who invest in the community. Whitehall is now at the tipping point, continuing to raise taxes and take on public projects that are unnecessary and costly.

Whitehall’s demise will continue and accelerate on its current path. It needs to change quickly and soon. Why are we spending money on capital improvements at the school which is projected to lose students for the foreseeable future? Why is the expensive undertaking of acquiring the armory necessary when people can’t afford their taxes currently?

Sadly the answer is poor leadership that has no vision. Leadership that is dooming the Whitehall area with tax and spend policies that are too extravagant for its taxpayers to afford any longer.

The school district election was on Tuesday.

Current incumbents George Armstrong and Virginia Rivette ran unopposed for reelection.

Mr. Armstrong received 209 votes and Ms. Rivette received 192 votes.

While I provided both candidates with questionnaires, I never received Ms. Rivette’s questionnaire back.

The budget passed with 175 votes “for” and 58 “opposed”.

I congratulate both candidates on their victories and service to the community. I would especially like to thank Mr. Armstrong for taking the time to answer my questionnaire and to inform you about his positions.

The Whitehall School District will have an election Tuesday, May 17th between 12:00 noon and 9:00 p.m. in the LGI room of the Junior/Senior High School on Buckley Road:

1.) To adopt next years budget.
2.) To elect two (2) members of the school board.

I have posted here the yearly budget comparison mailed out by the school district.

As of this moment I have not received the candidate questionnaire from Ms. Virginia Rivette that I submitted to her. When and if I receive her answers, I will post them.

Please remember to vote!

This year there are two vacancies on the Board of Education and two candidates running for these seats. The Huletts Current submitted the following questions to each candidate running for the school board. I explained to each candidate that I would run their answers as they submitted them on the Huletts Current. The questions are entirely my own and hopefully you will get a better sense of who the candidate is and what their positions are after reading their responses.

Today I present Mr. George Armstrong’s answers to my questions.

Could you please tell us about yourself and why you are running for the school board?

I am a retired GE manager who now operates with my wife’s help a green house and vegetable business. I have a life long love for education and a belief that our young people can be better educated if we become involved and show the way.

The Whitehall school district’s enrollment has been falling (and is predicted to continue to decline). When do you expect that falling enrollment will translate into lower taxes for all?

Probably the best we can hope for is a slight increase in the budget and a small increase in taxes. Sharp increases in health insurance and pension obligations are driving budget increases. Soon we will not have enough fund balance to offset increases in health costs and pension obligations unless (the) state increases school aid or eliminates mandates.

Whitehall and Granville had a long history of playing each other in sports. However, Whitehall is now in the “D” conference for smaller schools while Granville is in the higher “B” conference. Would you like to see this rivalry begin again and if so, what will you do, if elected to the school board, to bring residents and students into Whitehall?

No. I would not like this rivalry to begin again. Granville school will soon have twice our population. We can barely dress enough players to be competitive most years.

Do you believe that increased spending per pupil translates into a better education?

No. I do not believe that increased spending automatically translates in a better education. Involved parents, good teachers and a caring community are the key to a better education. Money is very important but must be used wisely.

If elected, will you advocate for or offer a resolution that any yearly budget surpluses be returned to the taxpayers in the form of lower taxes the following year? If not, why not?

No school district should over tax, however; following state guidelines fund balances should be maintained for a year like this one. Without some of our fund balance being applied this year we would be looking at 10% + tax increase despite our cut backs. We have never exceeded the legal limit, 4% on fund balance.

Governor Cuomo has recognized that lowering state spending is essential to a healthy state. Do you feel a responsibility, if elected, to cut spending and taxes on the local level to have a healthy and prosperous community?

You can talk about lowering spending and taxes all you want, but with health cost and pension obligations sky rocketing, mandates increasing and business fleeing N.Y., its not going to happen. We need some structural changes that are hard to get in Albany. Governor Cuomo seems to have the right ideas but entrenched interests have killed many a good idea.

The vote to elect two members to the school board and to approve or reject the proposed school budget will be held on May 17, 2011.

Two candidates are running for the two open seats on the school board this year. Mr. George Armstrong and Ms. Virginia Rivette are both running for reelection.

I’ve mailed both Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Rivette candidate questionnaires to explore their views and give the readers of the Huletts Current insight into their positions.

As soon as I hear back from Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Rivette, I will post their answers here.

Sadly, in a year when enrollment is declining, the Whitehall school board has again decided to raise spending and property taxes.

The Post Star has the story here.