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Written by:  Gregg Terhune

On February 9, 2008 the Madison Township Trustee and the Madison Township Advisory Board posted a notice in the Mooresville Times that they would be have a public hearing to request an emergency loan to the amount of $750,000 to help them get through 2008.  The meeting will be held at the Landersdale road firehouse on February 19, 2008 at 6:00 PM.  This, being a public hearing, means that the public is invited to express their opinion on this proposed loan. 

Something that citizens need to be aware of when considering this proposal is:
1.      The budget that they requested for 2008 is $3,837,348.  That is nearly 3 times larger than the 2007 budget that was approved by the Department of Local Government Finance.  If they get this $750,000 loan too, then they will have actually raised their spending ability to $4,587,348. 

2.      The 2007 Madison Township approved budget of $1,354,154 was already highest township budget in the history of Morgan County.  Washington Township came in second with a budget of only $743,680. 

3.      The Madison Township budget has tripled in the past six years while the Madison Township population has not even doubled in the past eight years, which means our township taxes have been increasing each year and will have to increase even more if we let this loan go through.

4.      The loan that they are requesting of $750,000 is greater than the entire budget for Washington Township for the year of 2007.

5.      Emergency Loans, if taken three years in a row, can automatically affect the tax rate.  This loan, if we allow it, will be a sixth in a row.  This way they can get around the cap on tax increases and no doubt the reason they want it so bad.  They want to continue this unbroken chain of emergency loans and large tax increases.

Are you ok with the Trustee managing the township money this way?  Is this what you expected when you elected him, to run the budget up four and a half times what it was in 2006 and along with it your tax?  Why can they not manage to run the firehouses on what was already the largest budget in the history of Morgan County?  Why do they suddenly need three, nearly four times the money?

This is your business and they supposedly work for you.   What are you going to tell them?  Think about it.  Then go to the meeting on February 19 at 6:00 PM.  Tell them what you think about how they are spending your money!

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It's not until we start confronting our elected servants on the street- in their church- in the store- on the phone- at work- getting out of the car and yes even in the public rest rooms about the way they disrespect us and our money will they stop spending and taking more than we have. This is what our founding fathers considered necessary to make local government work.

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REMEMBER: There is only 100 percentage points in your paycheck. Each point taken away will never come back. You've lost ~ 50% already to government taxation.  After the remaining is gone you'll have exactly NOTHING. How many points do you have left ? That determines your level of freedom.

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You better do your home work and be at the special forum Thursday, Jan. 24, at 7p.m. in the MHS North Gym. The corporation has presented a study by Indiana State University See FULL STUDY HERE .

Seems that the school age children population for Morgan County will peak around 2007 as seen in Table 3 of this report then decline 7.5 % buy 2025.  For some reason all other projections and tables only list the data of the growth years up to 2008. Not sure why no projections for Mooresville School District through 2025 were provided but since this district is responsible for the most of the past growth one could assume the below table will apply to the district also. In fact the total enrollment for the school district 2007-2008 is already at a three year low ( see Chart )

First Question IS : Why ask the district Taxpayers to pay $500.00, $800.00 or ? a year for new buildings when the projections show a declining student population ?  Couple this with the following factors not mentioned in the study and the decline the the student burden could be far greater than -7.5%.

As you can see in the report the Home Schooling trend has sky rocketed (more than 1600% ) since 1995 and should continue to climb as parents sacrifice and seek an better education for their children. At this current rate of increase (Stats ) in Home Schooling there would be 2,320 less student in the school system in 2018. Rather or not this moral trend will continue is yet unknown but in any case should have an impact in the future decline in enrollment of the MCSD and must be considered in the same light as the past 10 year student population growth used in the study. We also must consider the growth rate of our private schools in the districts which are high and not mentioned in the study.

Since this study was completed before the record county income tax increase this summer these numbers don't seem to take into account the slowing growth the county will experience from the much higher tax burden.  It also seems to neglect the staggering statistics with the sub-prime mortgage problems, declining building permits and the large inventory of vacant houses in the district. Also, development land availability is slowly coming to a halt due to they more than tripling in the value of crops grown for bio-fuel use. This alone will stop the train on urban sprawl the district is still counting on.

From table 3

Projected Population by Age Cohorts, 2000 -2025 for Morgan County

Year	Age 5-19
2000	15,045
2005	15,070
2010	14,639
2015	14,217
2020	14,070
2025	13,923
County %Change	-7.5

Since the projected growth for the district through 2025 was mysteriously left out of this report one could believe they mimic the county numbers. Maybe not. But, one could say there isn't enough supporting data to approve of doubling the average property tax for a projected decline in student population.  After all, this will mean that after all is said and done the Taxpayers in this district will be paying around $1500.00 plus more annually ( 2007 Income tax increase and this newly proposed Property Tax increase ) Also, the Governor seems agreeable to a cut in Property Tax but must increase our Sales Tax.  This would negate any relief our citizen would otherwise have had.

We have brought up a half a dozen important factors which didn't seem to be due consideration in the report for the projected need for this project. Their rush is on for newer and bigger buildings and for this reason alone we have the responsibility to force the answers and recalculate the projections applying the new factors mentioned above.

The report did mention a good quality school system attracts growth both in the residential and commercial sector.  One would have to agree that Mooresville's above average 82.4% (2007) down from 89.5 % ( 2006 ) graduation rate means far more to prospective residents than new buildings. 

Since so many already had given-up their vacations and reduced Christmas this year due to the income tax increase and the state is in the process of reworking the tax system, being slow to approve this plan would be prudent.

Remember that the majority of our residents are low income earners and can't afford to pay for all the wants of those few that can. We will stand-up for all those in Morgan County that pays taxes.

Our hats are off to the esteemed Community Committee who the hard working School board involved in the development of this plan. We hope everyone maintains an open mind while this discussion continues.

Remember, if the county taxpayers went through this same process of planning to accommodate new taxes and used recent trends in making their decisions like used in this school planning process, everyone in the county would have to move out of the county by 2012 or be completely broke. Then of coarse no schools would be needed. Use a calculator.

Look at the report FULL STUDY HERE and  ask for the complete numbers. RAISE THE QUESTIONS.

See the informational Site Here
See Dept of Ed Stats for District Here
See Elected Decision Makers Here

I think position #7 of our Position Statement applies here.

This Information is found in the County Directory and  provided by the county for the public's right to communicate with their elected officials.

Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation (317) 831-0950

The Decision making Elected Board Members

Brown Township Dave Davis (317) 831-4101

Harrison Township Randall Davis (317) 422-9229

Madison Township Ron Wright (317) 831-6060

Town of Mooresville Bev Viles (317) 831-1871

At-Large Phil Wright (317) 831-4071

REMEMBER : There is only 100 percentage points in your paycheck. After that you have exactly nothing. How many points do you have left ?

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