New Board Member Absent When School Board Voted On Tax Levy
It’s not a promising start when a newly elected school board member misses an important meeting, such as when the Board votes on the tax levy.
The New Berlin School Board approved the tax levy at its June 22nd meeting. Where was Board Member Peggy LaSalle? I hope she had a good excuse for her absence.
At that meeting, Board Vice President Dave Maxey’s motion for a tax levy with a $300,000 “cushion” had support from some board members. However, it failed on a 3-3 vote--with Maxey, John Kegel and Matt Thomas voting yes; Art Marquardt, Joan Doberstein and Susan Manley voting no. Although LaSalle was supposedly attending the meeting by telephone, there was no vote from her. Well, as I’ve stated before, attending by phone is a poor substitute for being there in person. I was at the meeting and did not hear her contribute anything to the discussion of the budget or tax levy, nor did she vote on the tax levy. In fact, after Maxey’s motion resulted in a tie vote, Board President John Kegel declared that LaSalle had “dropped off a little bit ago”. Then Kegel announced that the Board was taking a two minute recess “to figure out what they needed to do with Ms. LaSalle.”
Following the recess and after more board discussion, the New Berlin School Board approved (by a 4-2 vote without LaSalle) a higher tax levy--$44.2 million with a $600,000 “cushion”
That amount was less than the levy with a $900,000 “cushion” which had been recommended by Superintendent Paul Kreutzer. Dr. Kreutzer had argued for the higher amount because of uncertainty regarding how much state aid the district would receive, and to ensure that the district would not have to increase the levy after it was approved by voters at the July 27 annual meeting. He also brought up the importance of having a healthy district fund balance for short term borrowing and Moody's bond ratings.