After school district electors voted down keeping a flat tax levy Monday night — and a challenge by opponents to try and stop another vote on the tax levy increase — the voters overwhelming approved the proposed tax levy of $20.37 million as originally proposed by the Burlington Area School District Board of Education in August.
Monday’s meeting of school district residents attracted roughly 800 people to the Burlington High School gym and was marked by impassioned pleas by people supporting both sides of the votes.
The pivotal vote was 511 for the proposed levy, and 194 against it. In the earlier vote, 246 people voted for keeping the tax levy at the 2010-11 level ($19.65 million) and 518 voted against it. This means the tax levy for this school year will increase by 3.69 percent. Had voters opted for a levy freeze — and if the School Board would have accepted it — administrators would have had to cut nearly $750,000 out of the current budget.
The School Board is scheduled to meet Tuesday, Nov. 1, to officially approve the tax levy. The meeting is set for 6:45 p.m. at the school district office, 100 N. Kane Street.
For more on Monday’s meeting of the electors, please see the text of the live meeting blog below:
7:34 p.m. – Hi, everyone. We’re here and online, and David Thompson, the school board president is just getting everything started. He’s asking people for nominations for chairperson, Thompson and John Anderson were both just nominated for chairperson.
7:36 p.m. – There is a police presence here tonight (two City of Burlington officers), and while the gymnasium isn’t packed, it’s pretty full. Thompson is doing a standing vote for chairperson, and he won. Another person in the seats wants a division of the vote, and they are calling for an actual count of the voters who are standing. Peter Smet has just announced that there are citizens to help with the counting, and people are starting to count. Interestingly enough, John Anderson – who was nominated as chairperson – stood up for Thompson to run the meeting, as did the entire school board.
7:42 p.m. – While the counting is going on, it’s worthy to note that the opponents to the tax levy are taking up the front row on one side of the gym, while there is a large teacher presence on the other side of the gym. There is a good variety of people here – young and old, teachers, non-teachers, opponents to the proposed levy and supporters of it.
7:48 p.m. – 167 votes for John Anderson, 418 votes for David Thompson. Thompson will be the chair, as Board Clerk Susan Kessler just announced. Thompson is now reminding everyone of the ground rules – who an elector is (any resident 18 or older who lives in the school district who is a U.S. citizen), seating arrangements (electors and non-electors, with non-electors sitting in the back of the gymnasium), vote counting and challenges.
7:55 p.m. – Thompson has clarified that the majority of procedural votes going on tonight will be done by standing vote, while the tax levy votes will be done by written ballot. As shown already, Kessler has deputized some people to help with the vote counts.
7:55 p.m. – Roger Koldeway just made a motion to allow all eligible voters to speak, and Jordan Debbink seconded it. Thompson overruled it for now, by order of the parlimentarian, so David Moyer, the BASD Superintendent can make his presentation.
7:57 p.m. – Moyer just laid out the basic history of what’s been going on, and also asked that people remain civil and not speak while others are speaking. He also said Peter Smet will be able to refute incorrect information or support accurate information.
8:00 p.m. – Moyer just said that there are at least 25 districts who have raised the tax levy this year, with BASD ranking 13th. “There are exactly 12 above and 12 below.”
8:05 p.m. – Thompson is now dealing with the motion from Koldeway, and there is no discussion. This means, Thompson points out, that only qualified electors will be allowed to speak if this motion passes. He also refers back to the ground rules, which shows that property owners in the district are allowed to speak as well, and they would be voted out. We’re doing another standing vote, and it’s going to be counted immediately, rather than letting it be estimated. This proposal appears to have more balanced support than the Anderson vs. Thompson chairman vote, and the whole school board appeared to stand in support of this motion.
8:10 p.m. – The vote is 226 yes, 399 no votes. So everyone can speak. Please note we have not gotten to the first resolution, which is to keep last year’s tax levy.
8:15 p.m. – The motion on the floor is to approve the first resolution, and people are now coming up to speak.
8:20 p.m. – A lot of people are commenting, I’ll update during the voting process. I would like to point out that there are clearly divided lines here, either on the side of no increase or speaking for the tax increase. One woman has stood up to call the decision to cut the tax levy “at best, short sighted. We cannot afford a freeze, or not to vote for this tax levy.” She also said she is “distressed” by the intensity of some of the opinions being voiced.
8:26 p.m. – Josh Dow just stood up and pointed out that many teachers here are taxpayers and live here. “We are voting to raise our own taxes.”
8:35 p.m. – This is getting to be a lot of give and take, people taking very definite positions. We’ve had some flat-out attacks against the teachers and the board, and some flat-out calls of misinformation on part of those opposing the tax.
8:40 p.m. – There are a lot of people talking about the costs of education and the fact that the district is still raising taxes in the face of declining enrollment. Both sides are citing the declining enrollment in support of their position.
8:48 p.m. – Vote on this motion, the discussion is done. The discussion took about 30 minutes. Thompson is pointing out that we’re on ballot one, and that is the resolution to keep a flat tax rate for the coming school year. He has also reexplained that now.
9:05 p.m. – Yes, we are still counting the votes – on the first resolution. Please hold. There have been no challenges of anyone voting so far. We’ll see if that holds.
9:09 p.m. – David Thompson has asked everyone to take their seats, and has said they are working out a few ballots that appear to be vague.
9:10 p.m. – The vote is in: 246 vote yes, 518 vote no. The motion is defeated. Thompson is now entertaining a motion on the second resolution – the one to approve the proposed levy by the board. There is a motion and a second (as well as one wit who added a “third”). Phil Ketterhagen has now pointed out that this is an illegal vote because it has already been voted down. He is quoting chapter and verse, and points out that the petition only addressed keeping the tax levy flat. “There is no way in state statutes that you can resurrect the $20 million vote.” Thompson says he is waiting for a ruling from the parliamentarian, who is a representative from a state or area organization I did not catch.
9:15 p.m. – The parliamentarian has ruled that the board can consider the resolution and take the vote.
9:17 p.m. – Paul Haynes moves the question, which has been seconded. It appears the vote is moving forward.
9:20 p.m. – A quick clarification: the parliamentarian is Gary Ruesch, the district’s legal counsel from Buelow Vetter. And a lot of people appear to be leaving now – before or after they voted is unsure.
9:34 p.m. – The board-proposed tax levy vote is finished. The vote is 511 yes, 194 nos. The motion carries. And the meeting adjourns with no further discussion.
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I think Monday’s vote is a better representation of what the Burlington community feels is the best choice for education. However, I believe next year the district will HAVE to make some tough choices when it comes to insurance premium contributions for teachers and other staff.
I don’t agree that Monday’s vote was fair. I think the school boad stacked the deck with teachers and other left-leaning people so they could overrule the will of ordinary residents. Doesn’t matter anyway, the board would have voted to increase the levy even if the people voted it down.
I would say there were a tremendous amount of people there who were not teachers who voted for it. In fact I sat next to a number of business owners who understand that good schools makes a difference for people looking to move there families here and I would definitely say that most business owners lean pretty far away from the left. You don’t think the first vote was a sham when everyone decided together to show up for their first ever school board meeting the same night Belling talked about it on his show. The vote was over 2-1 in favor. I would say that is a pretty big majority.
I would say 3/4 of the people there were teachers and their families. Did you ask that business owner if she provides the same benefits that the teacher get. And did you ask that owner how much her employees have to pay for their insurance every week. I wish I could (more or less)vote for my raise and benefits. I understand why the board wanted to increase the taxes to get another $50 per student next year from the state. BUT the way it is done is not right!! Also does anyone think they will ever lower the rate or stop increasing the budget.
Ron, you must personally know each and every teacher in the district and their families? I wonder how you came up with this 3/4 number?
First of all they did decrease the budget by 2.5 million dollars, which was because of the cut in their state aid by over 3 million. If that 3 million wasn’t cut your property taxes would be lowered.
So there are 440 teachers who live in the Burlington district? If that’s true then those same people stay in the town and support the local businesses, god that is such a bad thing. Those same rotten overpaid teachers probably volunteer to coach the local youth sports, in fact, everyone of my kids has had several teachers from Burlington serve as a coach from the schools volunteer there time for the community. I have also seen many of the retired teachers volunteer their time running the polls for the elections and helping run local food drives and support LOVE Inc. Those greedy bastards who then take their team’s out of their own pocket to Adrian’s or the local DQ after the game!
According to your claim there was less than 100 people who showed up to vote for good schools who just understand that if you want good schools you need to pay for them, and yes that includes the greedy teachers. Did you notice the only two school districts who pay less of their taxes were Racine and Delavan? Guess which two schools rank the lowest in the two counties on every single measure of education that is out there. Yep Racine and Delavan.
So Jesse, teachers don’t count as people? They pay taxes like anyone else. Maybe there are just more people that support our schools than you think. Probably not a conspiracy.
The vote was fair. Anyone who lived in Burlington could have come to vote.
This is a good sign, it shows the people care about our children and their future.
This vote was advisory. The board could do as it saw fit. What really was the point in this meeting except for the board to save face with the public? The levy was going to be passed either way the vote turned out. Next year is going to be tough, the board has some hard decisions to make, and they can’t count on the public to continue to fund what they deem “necessary”.
I believe that a majority of the people there were hustled in by the unions, family members and teachers and spouses. this is not an accurate depiction of the city or town. As far as what happened that evening, the Board did not follow standard procedures of State Statutes and Roberts Rules. I’m saddened by the cry that teachers are being attacked when they STILL DON’T have to pay for their insurance(The higher deductible is just covering losses in state aid). But tomorrow is a new day and December will bring new challengers to the next election, (Keep an eye out for Karen Tolle of Music Matters, i dont know if she’s confirmed, but i know theirs speculation. We can no longer sit and let the current Administration and Board do the job they are elected and paid to do, we must hold their hands or fire them. You decide.
I’m sorry Jordan, but I’m pretty sure your mom who is a teacher pays for YOUR health insurance or at least has in the past!!! So do you pay for YOUR own health insurance now or do you still benefit from your mom’s hard earned benefits??? If you don’t pay for YOUR insurance, you have no business posting about it!! I cannot believe someone who has a teacher as a mother can be so cynical and ridiculous in their beliefs, when you have directly received benefits from her being an educator…pretty sad!
Also, do you even own a home and pay taxes Jordan?? If not, again you have no business making any posts or comments about it on this website or in the community!!
At least Jordan has the backbone to put his name behind his opinion, rather than tossing hand grenades at other peoples’ character and then hiding behind a fake name (like you and me)!
Teachers are good people. They, like the rest of us, are part of the fabric of this community that help to make it such a great place to live. The bottom line here is that no taxpayer should be asked to pay 100% of someone else’s insurance premium. No taxpayer should have to pay people who elect not to use the insurance offered by their employer. This is a case of doing what is right and doing what is fair. The current system is not fair. It’s not the fault of any public employee, but it is a broken system that needs to be fixed. I hope that we can all stop attacking each other and start working for what is fair for all concerned.
Thank you.