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TERMS DISCLOSED: Jim Scanlon's
initial annual salary as superintendent of
the West Chester Area School District will be $230,000. According to the
most recent information made public by the Brandywine School District,
he is making $170,417 this fiscal year. Except for an automobile
allowance, Scanlon's contract will contain no other perquisites, the
Pennsylvania district's spokesman Robert Partridge told Delaforum on
Apr. 29. He said that Penn Search, a service provided by the University
of Pennsylvania's Center for Educational Leadership, 'found' Scanlon and
other candidates for the position.
The Brandywine district will be led by a
soon-to-be-hired interim superintendent after Scanlon steps down to take
his new job on July 1. Summer weeks and the start of the new academic
year in August will be anything but slack times this year as Brandywine
vacates two schools and prepares for a wholesale shift in elementary-
and middle school enrollments as the result of new attendance zones. The
board will engage a search firm to find a permanent superintendent. The
transition process most likely will begin behind closed doors at an
executive session of the board scheduled for May 7. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
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ELECTION REFORM: If the state
legislature wants to cut the cost of
school board elections, it should change the process to have
candidates stand only in the nominating district in which they live,
Brandywine board member Ralph Ackerman said. The General Assembly is
considering a measure that would move the voting from each May to every
other November as part of the general election and cut members' terms
from five to four years. "The only thing November does is give it (the
election) a [political] party label," Ackerman said during a discussion
of pending state legislation at the Brandywine board's meeting on Apr.
27.
Nominating districts were introduced in
the four conventional public school districts in New Castle County
during court-ordered desegregation as a bit of reverse gerrymandering to
assure the city of Wilmington representation on the seven-member school
boards. Ackerman said that all board members should be considered as
representing their respective districts and spared the expense and
possible conflicts of seeking election and serving 'at large'. He also
expressed opposition to consolidating school districts, pointing out
that the countywide district established in the original desegregation
order proved unwieldy.
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Some County Council members are
beginning to question the wisdom of looking to staff reductions as far
and away the primary medicine to cure budget ills.
"Maybe there are people who need to be
hired," Council president Paul Clark said after Mike Svaby, acting
general manager of the Department of Special Services, ticked off more
than a dozen of the department's 57 vacant positions and gave specific
reasons why they should not remain vacant. Testifying on Apr. 27 at a
public hearing on the department's proposed $8.9 million budget for the
coming fiscal year, Svaby said that, because "we've been in so tenuous
times," the department has been loathe to seek exemptions from the
hiring freeze County Executive Christopher Coons has imposed.
"I understand the hiring freeze, but
there are positions that are still critical," said Councilman William
Bell. "We have them funded; why aren't we filling them?" The department
wants to keep 41 of the vacant positions in its next budget, but not
provide financing for them. Four vacant positions would be totally
eliminated. Councilman David Tackett noted that personnel costs account
for 45% of its proposed budget -- the lowest of any department -- versus
close to 75% of the overall county government budget. Bell said having
enough skilled workers on the payroll would reduce dependence on more
costly outside contractors. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
Chief administrative officer Tracey
Surles told the hearing that "there is still a hiring freeze on [both]
essential and non-essential employees."
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MONEY COMING:
Brandywine School District will receive between $2.5 million and
$2.6 million in federal stimulus money during the next few weeks and
another $3 million next autumn, chief financial officer David Blowman
told the school board. It also stands to share in the $110 million
designated for education that the state will get, he said. No decision
has been made on how to spend the initial grants, he said, but
professional development and instructional technology are the leading
candidates. Although the grants can be spent any tune during the next
two years, "we have no intention of holding onto any of these funds," he
said.
The district will feel some effects from
state government's financial problems during the coming fiscal year, but
they are not likely to be as dire as originally thought, Blowman said at
the board meeting on Apr. 27. "Scenarios that saw class sizes going up
to 27 or 28 are not going to happen," he said. Statewide, he and his
counterparts in other districts "don't see massive wholesale cuts
[coming] in public education," he reported. However, he added,
Brandywine still will have to lay off some teachers and other employees.
While the outlook now appears brighter, "we're still a long way from
[being] out of the woods," he said.
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HE GOT THE JOB: The
West Chester (Pa.) Area School District
board, as expected, unanimously approved hiring Jim Scanlon to be
schools superintendent, effective July 1. Scanlon simultaneously
resigned the like Brandywine School District position, with the same
effective date. A press statement issued by the West Chester district on
Apr. 27 said Scanlon agreed to a five-year contract, but did not
disclose his initial salary. He served in Brandywine for two-and-a-half
years. According to the most recent information made public by the
district, he is making $170,417 this fiscal year. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
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DARLEY LEASE: The Brandywine
school board reaffirmed its decision to
negotiate a lease arrangement with the Claymont chapter of the Boys and
Girls Clubs for the Darley Road School property. Before the unanimous
vote at its meeting on Apr. 27, the seven members of the board all said
nothing they heard at a recent public hearing -- held after their
initial vote -- had induced them to change their minds. "I do not
believe a local board should be involved with chartering a school," said
board member Mark Huxsoll. Odyssey Charter School also had sought use of
the site after the Darley Road Elementary is closed in June. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article)
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County Executive Christopher Coons and
Wilmington Mayor James Baker signaled that they
intend to follow through with threatened lay-offs if they don't receive
concessions from unions.
Coons's office announced
that nine paramedics-in-training will be let go on May 6. "I have no
choice but to follow through on the choice made by the membership of
[their union] not to accept an alternative path to ... keep everyone
employed," the executive said in a press statement issued on Apr. 23.
That union rejected a 5% pay cut. Although the lay-offs will not affect
any of the 81 paramedics now on regular duty, the service has 12 vacant
positions, some of which the trainees would fill. Significance of
setting May 6 as the effective date of the lay-offs was not apparent
since previously announced pay cuts do not take effect until July 1.
Baker, meanwhile, said in a
separate press statement that he has directed William Montgomery, his
chief of staff, "to begin the process of identifying and then notifying
as many as 75 unionized city employees that they will be laid off in the
fiscal year beginning July 1." All the unions representing city
government workers rejected a proposal to freeze wages; they were not
asked to accept salary reductions. Baker's statement denied union claims
that his administration has not eliminated "wasteful spending." On the
contrary, he said, initiatives the unions cited "will actually help
[resolve] the city's fiscal crisis in the short- and long terms." (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
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County Councilman John Cartier said he
will donate 5% of his salary during the coming
fiscal year to New Castle County Pride. That will be equivalent to
voluntarily taking a pay cut.
Cartier, who represents the Claymont,
Bellefonte and Edgemoor areas, made the announcement at a meeting of the
Claymont Design Review Advisory Committee on Apr. 22. A few hours
earlier County Executive Christopher Coons told a closed-to-the-public
meeting of non-union employees that their paychecks will be 5% lighter
starting July 1. As previously reported, three unions have agreed to
cuts, but one representing public safety workers other than police has
rejected Coons's request that it do likewise. The administration
reportedly is still negotiating the issue with the union representing
police officers.
Cartier said he does not know if any of
his Council colleagues intend to follow suit. Their annual salaries are
set by state law at $40,686, but the law apparently provides that, with
some restrictions, they can change them by enacting an ordinance.
Serving on Council is considered a part-time job. County Pride is an
autonomous organization established last year to avoid ethics conflicts
while channeling corporate and individual contributions to
county-sponsored activities. Coons's office said in a press statement
that more than 900 of county government's approximately 1,500 employees
are now subject to pay cuts. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
Council plans to hear about any
layoffs that Coons will propose in lieu of pay cuts on May 18. Although
billed as the last of a series of public hearings on the proposed
budget, that session is scheduled to be held behind closed doors.
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OPEN AT LAST: The second section
of Fox Point State Park was
officially opened to the public during an 'Earth Day' event on Apr. 22.
The state Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control has
spent the past 14 years remediating environment contamination of the
45-acre second section. The first 15-acre section of the park was opened
in 1995. The park, which eventually is planned to extend from Edgemoor
to Claymont, sits on land mostly reclaimed with industrial waste and
sludge from the Delaware River by the former Penn Central Railroad which
had intended it to be developed as industrial sites.
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ESTIMATES ENDORSED: County
government's independent financial advisory
council agreed that the revenue projections supporting the tax increase
and cost-cutting in the proposed fiscal 2010 budget accurately reflect
the outlook for the economy. Members agreed on Apr. 21 that the real
estate market -- upon which county finances are heavily dependent --
shows signs of 'bottoming out' but that recovery will be slow. Federal
incentives and lower interest rates are likely to release "pent-up
demand" during the coming months, Mark Oller said. "I think the bottom
is pretty darned close," Joseph Larotonda agreed. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
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FOLLOW-UP: After offering the
carrot of an 'amnesty week', county
librarians will begin wielding a stick. A get-tough policy will be
initiated to curb what officials consider an excessive drain of books
and other material. Effective July 1, patrons who rack up $5 or more in
overdue fines will have Internet access to catalogs and data bases
blocked in addition to being flagged if they try to check out material.
New patrons will get temporary cards for use during the first six months
and be limited in the number of items they can reserve or take out.
Through Apr. 18, overdue library items are being accepted without a
penalty.
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County officials are considering
partly reversing the most publicly
visible service cut so far and reopening some libraries on Thursday
evenings and Sundays.
"[Having] the whole library system shut
down on the same days is not beneficial," Anne Farley, general manager
of the Department of Community Services, told a County Council budget
hearing. But, she explained, changing that does not indicate any
lessening of the proverbial 'pain' that residents will be expected to
bear in light of the county's fiscal problems. On the contrary, her
testimony at the hearing on Apr. 13 included an array of additional cuts
planned in order to effect a 4.6% reduction in her department's spending
plans for the coming fiscal year.
Not only will there be the same net
reduction in library operating hours, but the allocation to buy new
books and support for contractual libraries -- including Wilmington
Institute facilities -- will both be slashed by 8%. Rockwood Museum will
be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and activity centers on Fridays. The
county no longer will offer seniors transportation to medical
appointments and will end the promotion of locally-grown farm produce.
The 'sleep under the stars' and Christmas holiday open house will not be
held. Not publishing seasonal program guides in the News-Journal
newspaper will 'save' $100,000, Farley said. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
Council members appeared resigned to
the service cuts. In light of the expected 25% increase in the
property-tax rate, "how do I sell sporting events, day care and camps?"
Timothy Sheldon said.
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MORE CUTS ORDERED: County Council
will likely direct the constitutional
offices to take a sharper pencil to their budget requests. A
non-binding resolution to that effect, sponsored by Councilman William
Tansey and co-sponsored by at least four of his colleagues, is scheduled
to come before Council at its Apr. 14 plenary session. Council members
were critical at a recent budget hearing of elected 'row office'
officials -- particularly recorder of deeds Michael Kozikowski --
for not effecting deeper cuts at a time when the slump in real estate
activity has significantly reduced their workload. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delafourm article.)
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LOOMS LARGE: New Castle County
government has become more dependent
on the property tax for financial support as other sources decline.
Acting chief financial officer Ed Milowicki told a County Council budget
hearing on Apr. 6 that the proposed fiscal 2010 operations budget
anticipates the tax generating $106.4 million, or 65% of all revenue.
That would be up from an anticipated $84.3 million, or 50%, this year.
The deep slump in the real-estate market has made the realty transfer
tax, which was relied upon heavily in previous years, considerably less
of a contributor -- 9.4% of the total in fiscal 2010, versus 27% in
fiscal 2006.
While there has been a noticeable pickup
in real estate activity in recent weeks, he said it has mostly
involved refinancings, which are not subject to the realty transfer tax.
Also, he pointed out, first-time home buyers do not have to pay the tax
regardless of how much the property costs. Tax-exempt property -- which
amounts to 22.6% of all property based on assessments -- 'costs' county
government $30.9 million in revenue not received. Council president Paul
Clark questioned whether the health-provider exemption Christiana Care
holds applies to profit-making structures financed largely by doctors on
its hospital campus.
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It looks as if New Castle County
government will get a federal stimulus
energy-efficiency grant after all. And, thanks to its efforts, so may
county governments in six other states.
"It could be a significant amount,"
County Executive Christopher Coons told officials of 'umbrella' civic
organizations. He said at their bi-monthly meeting on Apr. 2 that he had
been notified that the U.S. Department of Energy had acknowledged that
Delaware's three counties were overlooked when the state's eligibility
for $9.6 million was apportioned. The $3.2 billion energy program
provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act specifies that
counties with a population of 200,000 or more are eligible for grants.
Delaware is one of seven states where no counties were included in the
original eligibility allocations.
When that was discovered during its
continuing monitoring of the law, Coons's office immediately contacted
Vice President Joseph Biden's staff. Biden has been given responsibility
for seeing to it that the economic stimulus law is fairly applied.
Installation of solar-energy panels on large county-owned buildings has
been high on the county's wish list since a stimulus package was first
talked about during the pre-inaugural transition to the Obama
administration. Coons said the Government Center building in Corporate
Commons would be the first to be paneled if the money does come through.
(CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
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ADAMANT ABOUT IT:
If no acceptable alternative is forthcoming "we will lay off 75 or more
[county government] employees on July 1," County Executive Christopher
Coons declared. "I do not want to do it," he said, but indicated there
is no way around such a move. Negotiations with unions representing a
majority of county workers are continuing, "but time is running out," he
added. Coons gave no indication of where the talks stand beyond saying
that "we are waiting for a counter-proposal" from the unions. Meanwhile,
he said, departments have begun the process of determining which
positions would be included in lay-offs.
In addition to
eliminating or not providing financing for vacant positions in the
proposed budget for the coming fiscal year, the Coons administration is
looking to cut personnel costs by $4.8 million through either furloughs
-- which it favors -- or lay-offs. It also is seeking a 25% increase in
the property-tax rate. Coons said that, without changes in the county's
revenue structure, the higher rate would hold for two or three years.
However, "we cannot tax our way out of this [economic situation] and we
shouldn't try [to]," he said at a meeting with officers of 'umbrella'
civic organizations on Apr. 2. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
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REVENUE
ENHANCEMENT: "Love is going to cost more in Delaware" if New
Castle County clerk of the peace Kenneth Boulden's idea is approved by
the General Assembly, he told a County Council budget hearing. He will
seek statewide legislation to require ministers and others who perform
weddings to be licensed. "You have to have a license to be a plumber",
so why shouldn't marriers, he reasoned. Getting a license and
renewing it periodically would require paying a fee. Fees also could be
charged for filing marriage certificates. That, he said, would result in
"a significant enhancement" of county revenue.
Council members reviewing budgets for the
county's constitutional offices at the hearing on Mar. 30 came down on
recorder of deeds Michael Kozikowski for retaining a full staff at a
time when the real estate slump has reduced his office's workload.
Meanwhile, register of wills Diane
Clarke Streett told the hearing that inability to replace two long-time
staff members who have retired, because of the county hiring freeze, has
left her office shorthanded and noticeably lengthened the time it takes
to process wills. Kozikowski said it may be possible to
temporarily assign some staff members to other offices.
(CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
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RULING UPHELD:
The state Supreme Court ruled that the county Board of Assessment Review
was correct in reducing the assessment on Verizon Corp.'s poles, wires
and other outdoors equipment from $190 million to $111 million. The
issue involved how much the company could depreciate those assets.
Applying the current tax rate to that difference indicates that the
ruling would 'cost' county government $444,000 a year. County officials
did not publicly disclose the court ruling, which was handed down on
Mar. 26, nor respond to a Delaforum request for a precise accounting of
how much revenue has been lost since fiscal year 2006.
Last updated on April 30, 2009
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