From Harford County government:
Harford County Executive David R. Craig will host a hearing on the FY 12 budget on Thursday, January 20, 2011. The budget hearing is open to the public and will be held at Joppatowne High School. The session will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the school auditorium.
“The purpose of the budget hearing is to hear from the people of Harford County as to what they would like to see funded in the FY 12 budget,” County Executive Craig stated.
Joining the County Executive for the hearing will be members of his cabinet and county budget officials.
The FY 12 fiscal budget will be prepared between January and late March of this year. It will be presented to the Harford County Council by April 1, 2011.
“We want to hear from the taxpayers of Harford County prior to developing the budget,” County Executive Craig stated. “However, FY 12 will be a very lean fiscal year for the county and the state,” Craig stated.
Those wishing to speak during the budget hearing should arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the session in order to sign in. Those addressing the County Executive and staff will be given three minutes to express their opinion unless representing an organization. Those speaking on behalf of a group or organization will be allotted five minutes to speak.
Carol says
Poor timing for Joppatowne and Edgewood residents. The School Board Redistricting Hearing is to be held the same night at Edgewood High School at 7:00 P.M.
Cdev says
one can always go to a meeting at a different location. Also most of Joppatowne and Edgewood are not unhappy with the redistricting. Additionally e-mail has been an effective communication tool.
Cdev says
I would like to remind all the Tea Party Patriots that NOW is the time to show up and make your budget requests known. Showing up in April for the first time is not an acceptable practice and I didn’t know will not be an acceptable excuse! If you can not be troubled to show up now don’t complain later.
Porter says
Cdev
It’s terrific idea to attend the Public Budget Hearing Session at Joppatowne High School on December 28, 2010, however if you can’t attend, choose no to attend or out of town for the holiday you do not forfeit your right to contact the county executive, his cabinet and county budget officials to make your views known at any time of your choosing.
And Cdev I have had more than enough of your sanctimonious attitude, so you can shove it.
Porter
Cdev says
Porter the meeting is on January 20th. Hopefully you are not still out of town for the holidays. What I am refering to are the zero hour antics we have observed from peopl the last two years who cared nothing about the budget until it came time to approve it. Then stormed a room. You can not be univolved and then demand a seat at the table.
I don’t care if you have had enough I am still excercising my 1st amendment right to speak my mind. If you have had enough stop reading it!
Porter says
Cdev –
Has the government tried to interfere with your Freedom of Speech? Has someone suggested that the government suppress your speech?
Thank you for correcting the date of the January 20, 2011 meeting and I will once again remind Harford County residents that they can appeal to their elected officials at any time and that Cdev is not the public discourse rule maker.
Porter
Cdev says
No the govt. has not.
Your welcome
Of course they may but do not expect anyone to feel sorry for you or take you seriously when you wait until April!
rocco says
The needs of the few (teachers and govt workers)are not more important than the needs of the many (students and citizens) to quote Dr. Spock. Seriously, when does a citizen give up his/her needs to those of the state? Never in America!!!. Our govt works for us and not the other way around. Govt workers get paid a fair wage as I see it and if they don’t like it, free market will dictate that they will find employment someplace else. End of the story.
Cdev says
Rocco you do know that spock simplified a thought of Aristotle in “The Aim of Man”?
“Even supposing the chief good to be eventually the aim for the individual as for the state, that of the state is evidently of greater and more fundamental importance both to attain and to preserve. The securing of one individual’s good is cause for rejoicing, but to secure the good of a nation or of a city-state is nobler and more divine.”
rocco says
CDEV-Nice way to turn it around but the fundamental truth still remains that the state can’t tax the citizen to the point that working and paying taxes becomes a burden to him.
The security of the state is not the same as paying tens of thousands of $$$ to educate a student when private enterprise can do it better at a lesser cost.
The needs of the taxpayer are greater than the needs of ever increasing govt intrussion in people’s lives. Aristotle belived in a world in which the community was of greater importance than that of the individual, but America was founded under the belief that the people give the govt power, not the other way around. The needs of the many (citizens) is greater than that of the few (you and your liberal leftist progressives).
Our GOD given rights do not come from our govt, but from our natural rights which allow me to vote or not, dissent or not and participate or not. My voice shall remain mine to use as I see fit and yours as well.
I Left says
I’m curious as to why you think that “private enterprise” can educate students “better at a lesser cost.”
Before you answer, please bear the following in mind:
1- Private schools only accept the high-ability students with parents invested enough in the education of their children that they are willing to fork out money for it.
2- The high-ability students cost only a tiny fraction of budget, with the lion’s share devoted to the special education and lower-ability students.
Cdev says
The special ed part is the key. Did you know that if a private school accepts a student with an IEP the public school must pay to provide the IEP services? So essentially the students which cost the most to educate are paid for from the public school budget no matter where they go.
harfordmom says
I did not know that..thank you CDEV you seem to know a lot. That is an absurd policy.
Cdev says
This is why the per pupil cost is so high. Special Ed students cost alot more to educate (don’t get me wrong it is worth it) but when you consider who must be in an IEP meeting and that they frequently run for about an hour someone has to cover the class of the teachers involved just the cost of an annual review for a kid with ADHD is higher then the average kid.
Consider the following. A kid with severe behavioral issues who can not be educated in a setting that HCPS can provide will be sent to what is called non-public placement. The tutition can be upwards of 50K a year which comes out of the HCPS budget.
Or a kid who goes to John Carroll by choice but needs Speech Therapy as part of his IEP. If John Carroll does not provide this service then it falls on HCPS to provide it (the speech therapy) for them. These cost are in the HCPS budget.
rocco says
charter schools already provide an example of greater efficiency and if govt would allow school vouchers to add competition for schools…but teacher’s union would surely fight any attempt to reduce cost and become more efficient.
Cdev says
You do know that the only charter school we had in Harford county was an example of the abismmal failure that many charter schools end up being? Also the charter school is funded by the public school budget! SO the money is coming from the same place. With vouchers again the money is coming from the same place.
I Left says
You neglected to keep in mind the things I mentioned. Student funding is NOT divvied up equally among students. Federal law mandates that special needs students get the services appropriate to their learning disabilities. As such, it is not possible to give each student an equal percentage of money and tell them to spend it on whatever education they wish. Even though the budget says that the school district spends 5,000 dollars per student (random number used for example), Billy the honors student might actually see 1,000 per year. Sally the gen ed student might see 2,000. Jimmy the autistic student and Sarah the developmental reading student might see 10,000 each.
Based on this flawed notion of vouchers, it sounds nice to think, “hey, we have 4 kids here, and HCPS spends 5,000 dollars per kid. Let’s give each kid their 5k to spend as they will.” This notion is completely flawed however. If you give Billy and Sally a combined 10,000 dollars, that only leaves 10,000 dollars left for Jimmy and Sarah.
I know you love your “basic economics,” so we’ll display the concept through some basic math:
20,000 (the amount it costs to provide Jimmy and Sarah with the services they are legally entitled to)
minus
10,000 (the amount left over after you gave Billy and Sally more money than they had been seeing)
equals
-10,000 dollars.
Vouchers aren’t the answer to educational budget woes. It’s an idea that, while it sounds good, will actually lead to FAR more financial difficulty.
Cdev says
…..and since it would not legally meet the needs of providing free approriate public education to all children will leave one in a legal nightmare!