Comments regarding bus purchase/budget vote

Question: I have a couple of general comments about the budget/bus purchase vote that I would like to express. In regards to the bus purchase proposal. We DO all pay for the purchase of these busses however the cost is diluted over a broader base than just our district. The money comes from state and/or fed. funds etc. that come from revenue generated through taxes. Most of us pay theses taxes. Second, we were looking to "replace" not add to our fleet. "Replacing" worn out equiptment with new, more efficient and more reliable pieces that have low/no repair costs by comparison, in my opinion is good sense when the cost would be so widely dispersed.

As far as the budget goes, my opinion is that cuts were not deep enough and not in the right places. To name a couple examples, eliminating a "stretching coach" (did we need that position in the first place?), and only eliminating a very few positions (partly through retirees not being replaced) were weak attempts at showing cost cutting efforts. Maybe if a dozen or so positions were on the line (instead of the 2.5), voluntary pay freezes may have been agreed too. For me, I would have tolerated a slightly higher tax increase than the roughly 5% proposed if I had seen the district employees share in the situation we now face.