From Harford County government:
Welcoming citizens live and online, Harford County Executive Barry Glassman hosted the county’s first-ever virtual town hall meeting Tuesday to gather public input on the budget for next year. Mr. Glassman and members of his new administration heard comments from attendees at Harford Community College’s high-tech Darlington Hall, and from citizens who called in or sent online messages through email and social media. The event was also streamed live and available for viewing on the county website and at all public library branches countywide.
“I want to thank everyone involved for the success of this event, which used technology to give our citizens more opportunities than ever before to participate in local government,” County Executive Glassman said. “I especially want to thank those of you who reached out in person or online to let me know your budget priorities for next year.”
Citizen input on the budget for the fiscal year 2016 included support for public education, law enforcement, the public library, public health initiatives and efforts to promote economic development.
At the Tuesday event, Mr. Glassman also said that his administration planned to host virtual town hall meetings on other subjects , establishing a model for engaging people of all ages in Harford County’s future. He concluded by thanking staff members, including those at Harford Community College, Harford Cable Network and Harford County Public Library, for their collaboration in producing and broadcasting the event.
What I learned. Teachers never make enough money. Havre de Grace thinks a new high school will solve all their problems. How about letting the people with children pay for the teachers and new schools. I’m long past the child bearing age and could use my retirement funds myself. Want a new school for your children have a bake sale and raise your taxes.
Really? When you went to school, a whole lot of people who were long past their child bearing years paid for your education. When your parents went to school people who were long past their child bearing age paid for their education. If you went to a private school, as I did, the tuition certainly did not pay for all of our education. Tax free donations and endowments paid for more of the cost than the tuition did. I’m sure that you are thinking, “Yeah, but those donations were voluntary!” That would be true, but since they were tax free, that means all of society was having to pay more taxes because of a few who made those donations. BTW, when I was in school, 60 years ago, the federal taxes were a heck of a lot higher than they are now. (They had this foolish idea that the bills from WWII and Korea should be paid!) A lot of the people paying those taxes were well past their child bearing years too. Lets say we all voted on it and decided to do it your way and have every parent pay for their own kid. Would it not then be fair to have you pay back the cost of your education? That’s with interest and inflation, of course. Lets carry it a bit further. I live an area that is pretty well developed, so my portion of maintaining roads to my house is pretty small. I don’t use the roads to Fallston, Whiteford, Darlington or Churchville where the houses are further apart and have much more road between each house. Why should I have to pay higher taxes so that people who like to live away from it all can have roads? Why should I have to pay higher electric bills to cover maintenance on the wires going to those houses? I can’t see their electric line squashing trees from here! I help pay for their roads and utilities because it is for the better good of the county. I pay for other peoples kids to go to the schools for the better good of the county. Without a well educated populace and good roads and utilities, the county can’t attract or keep the businesses that keep things halfway pleasant around here. Don’t get me wrong, I have some gripes about paying too! Most of mine are not about paying for the infrastructure and services. My gripes are about how the politicians on both sides of the aisle waste my money for their own personal good. It really rankles me to hear that the county buys overpriced properties, cleans up the toxic waste on them and then sells them to the developers for less than the cost of aquisition I get really upset about how much of the school system’s cost is driven by mandates from politicians who haven’t been in a school for 40 years, but know exactly what the schools have to do to thrive. They are also the folks who force the schools to keep kids enrolled who refuse to do anything but disrupt classes so that nobody can learn. Then the schools have to hire extra people to help those kids who don’t want to be there and are just marking time till they turn 18. The state Boards of Education could easily drive the prices of school supplies down by banding together and saying, “No! We will not pay 120 bucks for a Science book that will be obsolete in 2 years!
Face it None, we are all in this together. We all get services of some sort, and we all have to pay the bill.Governments can’t work cafeteria style. We might not get the direct benefit of each cost, but we do get the indirect combined benefit.
I couldn’t agree more with None.. that is exactly what we learned from this meeting. I went to a local private school, the buildings had no AC, the windows were old single pane glass each room had an original fireplace that no longer functioned as the heat had been changed to steam 40 years earlier and every student wore a coat and tie, every day all day. The school bus picked me up at 6:30 AM and dropped me off at 5:00 PM The teachers were paid less than those working for public schools but some how every graduating senior went to college and the majority were Ivy League schools. So why does Harford county need new schools and higher paid teacher with an ever dwindling enrollment and an ever growing school budget? It makes no sense.
The system is broken, they have had the opportunity for the last 8 years to fix their own house but instead choose to complain and ask for more of the same.
Tom T, What an ass.
The real truth hurts doesn’t it?
Fact is a real teacher can teach anywhere and at any price the fear mongering HCPS wants you to think children can only learn in new buildings being run on a bloated system of no accountability.
Here’s a fun fact: there are 6 students for every 1 HCPS employee. WOW!
And as for my ass? thanks for the compliment, it is nice, but I’m married.
I would like to know why teachers pay from their own pockets to decorate and supply their rooms each year. Why isn’t there a statewide fund for them to draw from? Something akin to a flex spending account where the get $500 – $1000 per yer that they do not have to pay back. They would provide receipts for all the purchases. As it stands now, teachers who cannot afford the out of pocket expense each year when they probably have their own kids to supply end up having sparse rooms. The kids ultimately suffer. The casinos are making nearly $50mil per month. Why isn’t the money being used for projects like that. Society requires each teacher to have a degree and most have advanced degrees yet they make terrible wages. Something is terribly wrong.
@ None and Tom T
Property taxes were created to fund schools and therefore should be used for the intended purpose. If property taxes generated $292 million for FY 15′ shouldn’t every penny go to the education fund? Why did the county budget only allocate $238 million to education? Why did the money have to be shared with the community college? The remaining $57 million should have been return to the over charged tax payers! It’s very perplexing how only 38% of the counties operating budget was dedicated to education, despite its funding source (property tax) having generated 52% of the overall budget. All figures found at harfordcountymd.gov.
Another perplexing fact, proportionally public safety receives 40.3% (96 mill/238 mill) of the education fund to operate. Makes one wonder if public safety supports equal portions :
40.3% of 54 (hcps.org) buildings = 21.7 building
40.3 % of 4782 (hcps.org) staff = 1963 deputies
40.3 % of 37842 (www.mdreportcard.org) pupil served = 15250 inmates or citizens served
40.3 % of 500 buses = 201 sheriff cars
40.3 % of 42000 daily miles for gas = 16926 daily miles for sheriff
40.3 % of 37842 books (1/child) = 15250 books for inmates. Whoa, they must have an amazing library!
Should we break down every department in the same way??? I think theses figured alone put the schools budget in perspective. It’s time for citizens to stop requesting the board trim the fat, cut the waste, or downsize because it appears they are doing a lot with the money they are provided. Does the sheriffs office have 21.7 buildings, 1963 employees, 15250 inmates or 911 calls combined, 201 sheriff cars to purchase and maintain (which are probably less expensive than buses), and do they burn up 16926 miles in gas everyday?
My point is … if property tax revenue exceeds the superintendents budget request of $249 million it should be fully funded. If it isn’t fully funded, the county executive needs to return the difference to its citizens. Can I get an AMEN?
Are you serious in your claim ” Property taxes were created to fund schools “?
Yes. Although the history of property tax is a bit more complicated, it is common knowledge that property tax is a funding source for schools. However, it is not legal for property tax to be the only funding source for public education any longer according to DeRolph v. State. If I had a million dollars to bet, a scientific statistical poll would validate that citizen believe their county property tax mainly supports education. Their city property tax supports local police, sewage and water management, parks and city interest. Their county income tax supports secondary roads, public safety, libraries, etc. State income taxes support state roads, social services, state public safety, etc.
I figured you would answer yes.
Well, we are done here then. As Einstein said
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits”
A little light reading before you continue on with the History of Property tax for Education
http://econweb.umd.edu/~wallis/mypapers/ptfinal.pdf
Now, you might be confused with some states that the School Board levies it’s own tax separate from other local taxes. In many of those the school board district does not match up with the county. I can not wait for the newly elected school board to take over. I have more faith in the elected than the sitting school board to get spending until control. A shrinking enrollment should not be a 5% growing budget.
Barry needs to take funding away from Joppa Fire Company after their reckless stunt they pulled on New Years. Bel Air Fire House #1 has video if Barry would care to watch.
Wait…what did Joppa VFD do this time?
Several firefighters were caught up with illegal use of their hoses outside of Looney’s.
Excellent plan! Let the citizens in JM’s territory suffer because of some BS some fire squirrels pulled. You’re a genius!
I went to a Baltimore County Elementary school 50 years ago that is still standing and in great shape. As a matter of fact many schools that age are still being used in Baltimore county. Why does Harford County continually build new schools for a dwindling student populace? Why does their annual budget dwarf the rise of inflation? It’s because of unqualified people making poor decisions. New schools are not the answer to a better education.
I obviously went to the same high school as Tom T. It’s in Owings Mills. And the teachers there have always made less then in public schools. And the teachers are amazing. The people running the school are brilliant. And the students are now pillars of our community. Why is that?
There are other options for your kid’s education. People with big houses and fancy new cars that drop their kids off a public school have a priority problem…..and that’s the problem.
Is it true that Joppa Magnolia fire company drove their firetrucks from Hanson Rd up to Bel Air Firehouse and Tried to start a fight at 2am?
I am a little behind on the Dagger press breaking news. What I learned by reading two postings: Our new County Administration/CE reminds me of a student government. Period. They appear to be lost in the shuffle compared to all of the other counties. Very insecure, unsure and unprofessional group of folks.