Comments

• On the article BOE Elections to Move to November After 8-1 Vote

  

  Aristotle

  2:18 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012

  Mr. Festa. this morning you commented in a similar article that "Maybe the SPF BOE should try it" in regards to moving the election. Now less than 5 hours later you're complaining that the budget will surge, implying that it's not a good idea to move the election.

  What did you have for lunch that suddenly changed your mind?

• On the article Should the Board of Education Elections Be Moved to November? BOE Discusses.

  

  Aristotle

  8:49 am on Friday, February 10, 2012

  Mr. Festa, Bank of America has no say in this. Our BOE was going to vote last night.

• On the article Update: Komen Amends Planned Parenthood Decision

  Aristotle

  4:30 pm on Friday, February 3, 2012

  My family and I have supported SGK in the past. We took for granted that they were all about spending money in ways we supported.
  Since this dustup began, I've started reading more about SBK and was surprised by how much they spend going after other charities who use "for the cure" in their ads or T-shirts. I've attached a link.

  On another site's comment section it was also brought up that races are scheduled beyond just October. That poster said in her area the additional races were scheduled to compete with other charitable annual races as if to shift giving towards SGK and away from say lymphoma. I'm haven't paid that much attention to this, but others responded that they too noticed the timing of the additional races.
  Bottom line, PP will now get my support at the expense of SBK.

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/komen-foundation-charities-cure_n_793176.html

• On the article Woman Killed in Crosswalk Was Scotch Plains Resident

  Aristotle

  12:13 pm on Wednesday, February 1, 2012

  Can we be done with this tit for tat exchange attached to an article on someone who hasn't even been buried for 3 days?
  My god, please have some respect. There is plenty of time for facts to come out. How about a mourning period beyond 2 hours?

  Reply

• On the Blog Post Divorced Parent Can Demand College Records as a Condition of Paying for College

  Aristotle

  4:24 pm on Friday, December 16, 2011

  I'm a frequent Patch reader who hasn't commented for a long time. I'm finding that the multiple town articles are becoming an annoyance. If someone wants to comment on a true local issue, the comment on the right side of the homepage gets pushed off too quickly due to all these multi-town articles. For the past 2 days, all I see are comments on parents of college students' right to see grades, cell phone bans, and the Westfield kid's map of NJ. I would much rather see comments related to my toewn's issues as opposed to someones journey on a treadmill. I don't mean to sound like an old crank, but the appeal (to me) of Patch is the local stories and what my neighbors are saying about issues in my town.

  Reply

• On the article New BOE Vote Waives Activity Fee in Budget

  

  Aristotle

  1:17 pm on Monday, March 7, 2011

  Liza: I thought that Fanwood took a larger piece of the tax increase last year. This is from the Patch last year at this time.

  http://scotchplains.patch.com/articles/2010-2011-school-budget-election-guide

  Based on the avg Fanwood home assessed at $84,600, the tax increase would be $439.
  Based on the avg SP home assessed at $122,400, the tax increase would be $299.

  I'm not looking to pick a fight, but if your increase was $514 (if that was only the school piece and didn't include the town and county), then your home is valued above the average.
  Either way, Fanwood paid alot more last year relative to their assessed value.

  I think this further supports my point in the ludicrousness of our towns being separate.

• On the article New BOE Vote Waives Activity Fee in Budget

  

  Aristotle

  12:46 pm on Monday, March 7, 2011

  From what we're told each year, the local tax support of the schools is based on the value of each community. That value is determined by the state. Some years SP has increased in value faster than Fanwood, other years it's been the opposite.

  I'm not saying overall school taxes would go up or down based on a merger. I'm saying that each community would have the same proportional increase/decrease each year and we wouldn't have these swings where one town gets hit disproportionately harder than the other.

  This year it's even high-lighted more so than in the past. With a decrease in the overall school tax, SP will still see an increase because the state has determined that SP has gained more value this past year relative to Fanwood.

  As far as reassessments, the overall school budget won't change. It's just a matter of how it's paid. If the relative value of a house in SP compared to Fanwood is already in existence, then I would believe that a reassessment would only happen for reasons of structural improvement.

  These attorneys who advertise that you should have your home reassessed because you're paying too much in taxes will just be causing a full town reassessment sooner rather than later. The town/county/BOE budgets are paid for by the taxpayers. If you get your assessment reduced, that doesn't mean the budget goes down, it just means some other house will ultimately pay more.

• On the article New BOE Vote Waives Activity Fee in Budget

  

  Aristotle

  10:48 am on Monday, March 7, 2011

  Liza: I have a couple of comments to your posts.
  1. Do you know what is in the BOE budget? By that I mean are you aware of academic programs, clubs, activities, facilities, and staffing levels? Are you familiar with state-mandated requirements and tuition levels for the students who go out of district? I wasn't until a few years ago when I attended the budget presentations and asked specific questions on these items. It has given me more clarity on some of their spending and has made the budget more than just a number.
  2. Have you seen the Patch article on the Westfield budget? Not only are they asking for the full 2% increase from the taxpayers, they are requesting a waiver of over $300k more to raise taxes above this 2%.
  3. With the school taxes going down over $2M, why aren't you screaming at council meetings for a more interested look at mergers? If our towns were merged, both communities would be seeing a reduction in school taxes versus the current scenario where Fanwood sees a decrease and SP sees an increase.

  It looks to me that the BOE has reduced spending and passed along state aid for tax relief. Yet due to some formula by the state, one community will have a tax increase. This could be avoided if the 2 councils gave more than passing lip-service to the consolidation study that's been floating out there for a year. THAT would provide you some of the relief that you're requesting.

• On the article New BOE Vote Waives Activity Fee in Budget

  

  Aristotle

  10:28 am on Monday, March 7, 2011

  SP HomeOwner: Your comments are normally on topic and written without being personal. I too believe your posting about Mr. Russo was mean-spirited and crossed the line. Education in NJ has not come cheaply. The way in which it is funded has penalized communities like ours for a long time by relying on local property taxes for the majority of the financial support.
  I believe that during Mr. Russo's 10 years on the board, the school costs have not risen any faster than most other districts within our state. Last year during this time, you made a call on this forum for new candidates to come forward for BOE and council positions.
  After your unprovoked verbal attack on Mr. Russo, who in their right mind would want to subject themselves to that kind of personal assault? Further, Mr. Russo was honored a few years back as "volunteer of the year" for his time on the BOE, Rotary, scholarship foundation, and some other town service organizations that I can't recall.
  I don't think we should be personally attacking people like this, but encouraging this type of involvement in our communities.

• On the article New BOE Vote Waives Activity Fee in Budget

  

  Aristotle

  3:03 pm on Friday, March 4, 2011

  RU, I don't think it's entirely accurate. I did some lumping, like the debt associated with prior voter approvals for bonds. That has nothing to do with regular ed or special ed students. It also does not really factor into educating a child beyond the need for space 10 years ago. Also, there are over 700 students designated special ed that are not out of district. I'm sure they are receiving support from some of the line items that I included.

  My intent is to NOT turn this into a war between regular and special education students or families. It is to point out that when a number of over $14k is posted and then reacted to, I thought it may be helpful to look further at some of the public school requirements.