By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
We attended the Auburn Career Center meeting on April 9th, hoping to hear any news on the ridiculous, never ending lawsuit by the Auburn Board of Trustees and Mr. Brian Bontempo, Auburn’s Superintendent. Unfortunately, we will only be able to informed after a judge rules on Auburn latest stall tactics.
Here is a video of the meeting.
Six of the nine Lake County School Districts support the Auburn Career Center. Here is a list with their annual property taxes collected for Auburn. Wickliffe, Willoughby-Eastlake and Mentor do not support Auburn.
Fairport $99,875
Kirtland $594,320
Madison $651,599
Painesville $300,882
Riverside $1,893,249
Perry $572,101
Chardon, a Geauga School District, has a small representation in Lake County and they contribute $2,590 to Auburn annually.
Auburn collects $4,114,616 annually from the Lake County taxpayers.
As you can see Auburn passed a 1.50 mill outside millage levy in 1976, and the levy is a continuous levy. As we have said in the passed, “continuous” levies are FOREVER, and the taxing authority does not have to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money because they can always count on the property tax revenue.
Our previous article revealing the 12-year, never ending lawsuit against the employees’ union CATA, showed that Auburn’s Board approved spending over $3.0 million to settle a $144,000 claim. They have filed yet another lawsuit, probably as a stalling tactic, and we will have to wait until it goes through the courts. If Auburn loses again, we are losing track of the number of lost lawsuits, someone should be given their pink slip.
From the Auburn website, we found the following information about the makeup of the Board of Trustees.
0141 – NUMBER
Or about April 17, 2020, Ohio’s Superintendent of Public Instruction approved the February 4, 2020, revised membership plan submitted by the Auburn Career Center on February 25, 2020, at its February 4, 2020, regular board meeting, the Auburn Career Center approved the following revised membership plan pursuant to R.C. 3311.19, R.C. 3311.191, and applicable laws effective June 30, 2020:
Board Members:
Member 1 = Berkshire Local School District Appointment
Member 2 = Cardinal Local School District Appointment
Member 3 = Chardon Local School District Appointment
Member 4 = Fairport Harbor Exempted Village School District Appointment
Member 5 = Kenston Local School District Appointment
Member 6 = At-Large School District Appointment
Member 6A = Chardon Local School District Appointment
Member 6B= Fairport Harbor Exempted Village School District Appointment
Member 6C = Cardinal Local School District Appointment
Member 6D = Kenston Local School District Appointment
Member 6E = Berkshire Local School District Appointment
Member 7 = Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve Sub-District 2 Appointment
Member 8 = Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve Sub-District 2 Appointment
Member 9 = Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve Sub-District 2 Appointment
Member 10 = Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve Sub-District 2 Appointment
Member 11 = Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve Sub-District 2 Appointment
Note that the ONLY Lake County School District that has representation on the Auburn’s Board is Fairport Harbor, and their district is the lowest contributor to Auburn. [$99,975 only 2.4% of the total]
Riverside, the largest contributor because of its property tax base, has no representation. We are adamant on this point. If you are taking property taxes from us, we deserve representation on the Auburn Board.
We sent an email to the Riverside Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer asking why they have no representation on the Board. To date, we have not heard from them.
Any tax that, if unpaid, causes a citizen to become homeless is immoral.
Categories: Lake County - General, Lake County Politics