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Deligianni spends and taxes
OUSD will vote to increase taxes 8.78% on new residential and business construction
"I will never vote to raise your taxes" -
Dr. Alexia Deligianni campaign promise 2012
At the Thursday, February 15, 2018, Orange Unified School Board meeting, Board President Dr. Alexia Deligianni-Brydges will bring forward votes for a tainted $213,473 Public Relations contract and a vote for an 8.78%* tax increase.
OUSD Board to vote on $213,000 PR contract with politically connected local firm
" Continue putting students first in all of our district's decisions, and ensuring money continues to go directly into our classrooms not bureaucracy". -Dr. AlexiaDeligianni campaign promise 2012
After a lengthy process at the request of the OUSD Board to select a PR Firm, at their January 18, 2018, the OUSD Board rejected the staff recommendation to award the public relations contract to VMA Communications. Instead, the Board directed the OUSD Administration to negotiate with Communication Labs of Orange for the contract worth hundreds of thousands of tax dollars.
Agenda Item 12 C on the February 15, 2018, OUSD Board Agenda is to approve a contract for hundreds of thousands of educational tax dollars for the politically connected public relations firm.
| Trustee Barrios |
Communication Lab's owner is Arianna Barrios, a Trustee for Rancho Santiago Community College
Aside from the Rancho Santiago College
In 2008, Barrios mad an unsuccessful run for OUSD Area 6 Trustee and was endorsed by both OUSD Trustees Kathy Moffat and John Ortega. Unless Moffat and Ortega recuse themselves from the contract vote, both will be voting on the Barrios contract this week. Moffat is one of four OUSD Trustees up for re-election in November 2018.
At the January 18th OUSD Board Meeting, Board President Dr. Deligianni-Brydges led a conversation on rationales for hiring a public relations firm. Citing declining enrollment in OUSD, combined with the loss of OUSD students to other districts-especially Tustin Unified- Trustees and staff said a public relations firm was needed for a campaign to keep OUSD Students in the district.
OUSD has been very aggressive in retaining students who live in the district. An example is a recent move by Panorama Heights Panorama Heights Panorama Heights Panorama Heights students to Tustin was forecast by OUSD to cost the district $700,000 a year.
The election, however, is now on hold after a legal move by OUSD that will delay an election for years. OUSD appealed the ruling to move forward with a vote from the Orange County Committee on School District Organization to the State Board of Education. With the current backlog in Sacramento , a date for the appeal is not expected for three years. The delay involved with the appeal will save the OUSD budget around $2.1 million if the election had proceeded and the Panorama Heights
OUSD in the news without spending hundreds of thousands of educational tax dollars on a Public Relations contract:
OUSD IN THE NEWS
OUSD to vote to increase local taxes (school fees) 8.78%*
Every two years, the State Allocation Board (SAB) recalculates "school fee" taxes that school districts are allowed to level on new construction. The taxes, collected for a special account to use for building new schools and improvement to current schools, are often called "development fees".
In January of this year, the State Allocation Board authorized a bi-annual "adjustment" in the tax. After tax increases are authorized by the SAB, state law then requires school districts who want to increases taxes locally to vote to increase the tax. The new increase becomes effective 6o days later.
The current SAB authorization and the OUSD Board resolution hike the residential development tax 8.78%* to $3.79 per square foot of residential buildings and $0.61 per square foot for commercial/industrial buildings. The new tax rate calculates to $3,790 per 1000 square feet of homes and $ 610 per 1000 square feet for commercial ( a new 10,000 square foot industrial building would have a tax of $ 6,100).
In 2014, the last time the SAB authorized hikes the SAB raised the allowable tax at first 1.05% then readjusted it upwards to 3.5%. The 2014 taxes were $3.48 per square foot for residential and $0.56 for commercial/industrial.
On February 2, 2017, OUSD ran the required notice for the public hearing and vote on the OUSD tax increase. (see the PUBIC HEARING NOTICE link at the bottom of the post).
OUSD Agenda Item 12 C for the February 15th meeting includes the resolution to "INCREASE THE STATUTORY SCHOOL FEES" (taxes). The Tax Resolution, by law, must lay out the justifications for the tax increase.
The Tax Resolution in Section 13 allows for 3% of all taxes collected to go to "administrative costs" caused by the collection of the tax.
Page 1 ( Agenda page 36) of the resolution states two studies, one on residential and another on the commercial. The studies were conducted to meet state law requirements on raising the tax. Among the legal requirements, the studies need to address is "(2) the need for school facilities" and "(e) an evaluation and projection of the number of students that will be generated by new residential development".
For over a decade, OUSD has actually closed school facilities and been in a process to sell off district property designated for schools as "surplus property". The February 15th Agenda includes a Closed Session item (Agenda Item 4 C) for further price negotiations on selling the surplus Killerfer Site. When Trustee Timothy Surridge was Board President, the conservative majority went to great lengths to point out the OUSD demographics studies showed that OUSD would not need any of the surplus school sites, including the Peralta site for future schools. Surridge's and Trustee John Ortega's plans for high-density apartments on the surplus site caused a firestorm of opposition.
Section 10 on page two of the OUSD Tax Resolution states a reason for the increase in taxes is "the School District does not have sufficient student capacity to serve the students generated by such new" developments.
The OUSD Administrators and the OUSD Board have made the declining enrollment the main reason for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on President Deligianni-Brydges request for a public relations firm. The OUSD Budget leaders have since last year had doomsday budget problems blamed primarily on declining enrollment.
On Page 2 of the resolution in Section 5 states that the current schools (yes the ones with declining enrollment) cannot handle new students from any future development: "There is not sufficient capacity in the existing School Facilities to accommodate all additional students".
Measure S supporters may be surprised to learn that Page 3 Section 8 of the Tax Resolution states that the new taxes can be used for " accusation for additional School Facilities" and for "remodeling existing School Facilities to add additional classrooms and technology" and "remodeling of existing School Facilities". The money can also be used for the district office facilities: as well as any required "central administrative and support facilities".
Ironically, it will be two of OUSD's self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives who will sign the Tax Increase Resolution: Dr. Alexia Deligianni-Brydges and Timothy Surridge:
Signature page for OUSD Tax Resolution for an 8.78% tax hike-Agenda page 42 |
So it appears that the OUSD Board and Budget makers are trying to have their cake and eat it too:
- OUSD Board sells off "surplus property" that could be used for future schools
- cites declining enrollment for needing a PR firm
- cites declining enrollment for appealing the
Panorama Heights - Goes against the advice of their own administration and committee to negotiate a contract with a politically connected PR firm
- Votes to spend hundreds of thousands of educational dollars for PR to help stop declining enrollment
- Moves to raise local school taxes on future development by 8.78% because "There is not sufficient capacity in the existing School Facilities"
For more information Click on the lnks below:
OUSD Website section devoted to Developer Fees:
OUSD DEVELOPER FEES INFO
(as of this posting- none of the website links in this section worked)
Continue to provide fiscal responsibility for taxpayers, and fighting for continued strong fiscal oversight. I will never vote to raise your taxes.- Dr. Alexia Deligianni campaign promise 2012
Arianna Barrios 2012 Campaign endorsements
Board of the Community Foundation of Orange
Communications LAB Board
OC Register: OUSD NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
*
Lorzano Smith ESQ info on: State Allocation Board (SAB)NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING February 14 , 2018
Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
CLOSED SESSION- 5:00 pm
OUSD Regular Session: 7:00 pm
For AGENDA-CLICK ON
For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015
ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:
the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
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