Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Status:
"Let this year be over..."
(set 25 days ago)
Location: Where my bills arrive
19,221 posts, read 17,102,322 times
Reputation: 15538
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by JCNNY
Also, schools are using smartboards (it's basically a computerized, interactive white board) instead of chalkboards and dry-erase boards. Ipads are becoming popular among students and apparently some districts are going to provide ipads to all their students in the near future. While the use of technology has made our lives more convenient, it makes things much more expensive whether it's school taxes or health insurance. Obviously the more technology used in schools the more it's going to cost, and that payment comes from taxes.
Our district has been providing laptops (both Dell & Mac) to every middle/high student for over 5 years the only additional cost is for the parents who have to pay an annual insurance cost. And the district I work in has been able to integrate the technologies you mention over several years with proper financial planning upgrades can be introduced without going broke.
Most intelligent states now out-source corrections. Why overpay glorified security guards, ie: wannabee cops, when you can hire an outside company that knows how to professionally run a corrections institute for a whole lot less.
Privatization is the only way to go with gubment services.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VA Yankee
And the state of Virginia thanks you for your buisness!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yzette
You might want to check your facts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VA Yankee
Virginia has historically allowed out of state prisoners to be housed within the state facilities...for a fee of course..
As he was talking about privatization (not shipping inmates out of state), it appeared you were, as well. Virginia has [URL="http://www.vadoc.state.va.us/boards/private.shtm"]only one jail run by a private company[/URL].
I have had enough of this. My school tax has doubled since 2004. My house continues to lose value year after year. These leeches have sucked every dollar of disposable income out of.our pockets. Why do we stand for this? Abolish the teachers union. Cut all admin salaries by 50%. Cut all teacher salaries 30%. Don't like it? Good bye. We have teachers and admin tripping over themselves to land one of these jobs. The schools have not improved one iota since 1990 yet we pay triple the cost for it. For what??? We need to draw a line in the sand here and now. The schools are good reason is not reason enough to overpay for it. They would be good anyway without the ten thousand $tax bill.
A little secret the schools don't want you to know........it's our kids that make the schools great.....not the other way around.
Great idea. We can do it on Tuesday. And then on Wednesday we can fire all the government workers (from office workers through soldiers) because my income taxes are too darn high! And then on Friday we can lasso the moon, pull it to earth and dvide the cheese up to everyone - thus ending world hunger.
Most intelligent states now out-source corrections. Why overpay glorified security guards, ie: wannabee cops, when you can hire an outside company that knows how to professionally run a corrections institute for a whole lot less.
Privatization is the only way to go with gubment services.
Yea $36,000K is an amazing salary (14% below the national average security guard salary), especially for the high COL on Long Island. *rolls eyes*
I know teachers, cops, and other government workers get paid more than the average Joe who works in private sector, but saying security guards get paid big bucks is an exaggeration. Unless the private sector is paying less than $36K which I doubt.
[URL="http://www1.salary.com/Security-Guard-Salary.html"]Average Security Guard Salary Information plus Job, Career Education & Unemployment Help[/URL]
Yea $36,000K tops is an amazing salary, especially for the high COL on Long Island. *rolls eyes*
As long as I've started this crazy train, I'll add that the new COs in Nassau are stuck at slightly less than that for several years, with no increases. That's why I posted my (not at all serious) contribution to the original lunacy that is "fire 'em all." I was wondering if others would chime in with "fire all the garbage men" and "fire everyone at the DMV," etc.
As others have said or implied, the whole idea of just trashing an entire system and getting rid of everyone within that system at the drop of a hat is just not realistic. I suppose it helps some folks to vent, though.
Well don't get crazy now. I think all NYers would agree that this is an excellent idea!
Probably. It seems that everyone here would be more than willing to fire teachers, cops, firefighters, garbage men, security guards, military, research scientists, lawyers, politicians (LOL), anyone or anything to do with government. That way we can live in anarchy and have no taxes.
Its not so much salaries that are causing taxes to go up as it is pension and benefit payments. As the state made significant cuts in funding to local districts in the 2011-2012 budget, you are seeing schools trying to make up the difference in order to make the required pension payments(required by the NYS constitution). What needs to be done(and is, to a certain extent with Tier 6) is a massive modification of retirement benefits for NYS workers to be more equivalent to the private sector. This currently is only happening for new workers and would require a renegotiation with the unions that any sane union leader would refuse. Therefore, the only alternative is for legislation to be passed at a state level allowing all union contracts be reopened and modified unilaterally by the state government. You can cut salaries all you want(although you’d have to be insane to live on LI with a salary of $30k) but the benefits are the driving cause of these tax increases. I don’t believe district consolidation would make that significant a cut into the cost of education on LI.
You sound like that fat governor form Jersey..
Some facts about NYS pension system :
The fund had 101.5 percent of the money needed to pay its obligations in 2010, better than any other state, according to an annual study by Bloomberg Rankings.
The fund’s estimated value of $150.3 billion is the highest since fiscal 2009
"We remain one of the strongest pension funds in the country, providing retirement security to more than 1 million New Yorkers."
Among the pension fund’s various investments, real estate performed the best, gaining 17.6%, followed by fixed income’s 9% return. U.S. equities, which accounted for nearly 40% of the fund’s total investments, posted a 6.9% gain and outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index’s 5.7% rise during the period.
It went from 110 billion to 150 billion in two years .
Are you single or do you have kids? That's the difference. Families need to make at least $200K. Having a family = big house and property + college savings
Married entire time with a 2 year old now. The way I did it is not the norm but, I worked hard and at 34 I live in a brand new house with a 250k mortgage. I really believe that my generation and the ones following are a bunch of lazy, pampered and selfish people.
I am not panicking over the solvency of the pension system, it is fully funded as mandated by the NY State constitution. It is the fact that its fully funded that is driving these tax increases. Other states managed to stop making their payments into the system and created a problem( though it may be a "starve the beast" strategy to hurt the unions). The issue at hand is school districts make huge pension payments into the system that cause school budgets to balloon, particularly with older, more senior teachers/superintendents making up the majority of the staff. The best way to counter this is to place more of the pension contributions on the employee side, either by switching to a 401k plan or by bumping the contribution ala Tier 6(6%/year for the remainder of your employment). Remember that only two years ago, the total contribution from Tier 4 was 3% per year for your first 10 years. This is a significant change that is going to be required to allow the retirement system to remain functional.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
.
