We open the paper this morning to read "
Utica and Rome losing population," and "
Herkimer Co. villages losing residents. " People awoke to similar headlines in
Buffalo,
Albany,
Niagara Falls,
Rochester,
Syracuse, and
Binghamton.
No surprises here. Just read the comments on the Utica-Rome post. Everyone knows that New York's style of government makes it impossible for people and businesses Upstate to make ends meet. The cause:
- Government spends too much
- We have too much government.
- Government makes the wrong choices.
But ultimately, WE are all to blame . . . We tolerate the government we have (or even ask for more of the same) rather than change it.
4 comments:
That school enrollment is declining in so many districts in our area should be a stark indicator of where we're headed - and so should the school budgets that rise in spite of the enrollment trends.
The kingdoms, in terms of having a plethora of small school districts, need to be eliminated and consolidated. I have always been an advocate of school district consolidation in Oneida County. With the decreasing area population, we need to rethink why we are duplicating school district services, facilities services, as well as school bus services. Think about how all of the individual school districts have district superintendents, principals and vice principals, department heads, sports coaching and the associated staff members, school nurses, office staff, janitorial superintendents and the associated staff members, grounds superintendents and the associated staff members, business managers and the associated staff members, school bus superintendents, bus mechanics, school bus drivers, and it goes on and on seemingly perpetually duplicating operational costs that the diminishing number of taxpayers are mandated to pick up the tab for.
Do you think that a possible solution to this colossal waste, in terms of the duplication of services, could be eased if all of the Oneida county school districts could be split into four separate sector districts? Perhaps split the districts into four county districts; Oneida North Central School District, Oneida South Central School District, Oneida East Central School District, and Oneida West Central School District. They could all be centralized taking advantage of using ONE centralized administrative services (in terms of accounting, tax collection, purchasing, library shared services etc.) to eliminate waste and save money. This idea is not so farfetched when you realize that other states divide their school districts by county, with school district divisions for their larger populated regions of two hundred thousand and over.
If you really want to see how School Government spends our monies...read the following comments from this website:
http://newhartfordnyonline.blogspot.com/
Using school tax dollars for roads and improvements? Who is really crazy? Town and School Leaders need to be recalled!
Superintendent Gilligan should be ashamed of himself.
The government is the people. We elect and we get what we deserve by virtue of elections. Those who do not vote commit the worst citizen sin of all, one of abdicating responsibilty.
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