Breaking….schools win lawsuit against unFAIR plan
The State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division has sided with 24 school districts over Monroe County’s controversial F.A.I.R. Plan.
In a decision released Friday, judges in the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court are ordering Monroe County to share all of the sales tax money it collects.
Update: The D&C reports the decision was 5-0.
Much more later on this…..I’m hearing that the county will appeal. Not sure where the case goes next.
Update: btp here. Poor Maggie Brooks just can’t get any respect. From the court ruling affirming domestic partner benefits for county employees in a commited gay marriage, to this upset of GOP judge Fisher’s ruling in favor of the so-called F.A.I.R. plan. And as if things couldn’t get any worse, she’s turning an entire generation of youth against her. From a reader:
“I hate Maggie Brooks.”
These were the first words out of my daughter’s mouth as she stomped through the door this afternoon. At first, I thought she was talking about another kid in school, but it turns out that she was talking about the County Executive.
“Why do you hate Maggie Brooks,” I asked.
“Because they’re canceling field hockey, because Maggie Brooks cut the budget.”
In Pittsford Middle Schools, field hockey is a “Modified B” sport.
According to my daughter, Pittsford has decided to combine varsity sports (so two schools share one team) and cancel Mod B sports. It’s a sensible way to cut the budget without harming education, but it’s not winning Maggie any teenage fans.Though suburbanites treasure their precious snowflakes, their children’s disappointment isn’t the only reason that moms and dads will be mad at Maggie. Parents whose children play sports stay at school until 4 or 5 p.m. Working parents who aren’t comfortable with kids staying home alone will have have to make last-minute arrangements for child care.
So, for those of you wondering if the FAIR plan will be blamed on Maggie, wonder no more. I’ve never discussed Maggie or FAIR with my daughter, but even middle schoolers know who to blame.
But don’t worry Ms. Brooks. If you keep pandering to bigoted, selfish voters, it’ll drive away all these disenchanted young folks even faster.
As a teacher, I can say that the FAIR Plan has been very stressful for us. Funding has been eliminated for professional development, necessary supplies or books, and teaching positions–leading to bigger class sizes. But, as most teachers are dedicated and diligent, we just spend more of our own money to do what’s best for our students.
It’s funny that the court said the same thing the comptroller said about this plan a year ago. You can’t just come up with your own crazy interpretations of law and hope that no one will notice.
As Rush Limbaugh says- “words mean things”
I don’t play field hockey, I don’t even have a child currently in a Monroe County public school, and I’m not gay. Nevertheless, mark me down as hating Maggie Brooks too.
What a big egg that was to lay on the Queen during the Easter holiday weekend…
http://img802.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2008/03/22/maggietheevileasterbunny-49×0387z8.jpeg
You all are certainly entitled to enjoy your “victory” over the woman you love to hate. But when you are done, think of the answers to a couple of questions.
1. Since the County’s budget deficit just went up, remind me again how it makes a difference which pocket I pull my tax payments out of. If my School tax bill goes down (and I’ll believe that when I see it) but my County Tax bill goes up, how am I ahead? After its all said and done, will any taxpayer’s total tax bill be reduced?
2. Now that the F.A.I.R. plan is gone, what will school Superintendents use as their explanation for having to raise taxes to cover new expenditures. In Gates, the Superintendent indicated that an elementary school would be closed. He blamed Brooks and the F.A.I.R. plan. So now, will they keep that school open? The details of the closing plan indicated that the building needs $1.5 million in renovations to make it code compliant. It was also reported that the Gates district has at least 16 unused elementary school classrooms. So, since Maggie has to give back the sales tax, and since her taking the money was the “real’ reason the school was being closed, will the old, decrepit, unneeded building stay open?
I don’t want to single out Gates. I’ve seen the stories about all the cuts being brought on by Maggie’s plan in various districts. The Superintendents in Brighton and Pittsford also saw an opportunity to use Brooks as a “whipping boy” and they ran with it, as well. I’ll be intereseted in their revised statements.
School spending will remain the biggest burden on local taxpayers. This decision may be a legal/political defeat for Maggie Brooks, but it does not translate into a victory for any taxpayer.
I don’t hate Maggie Brooks, but it was cynical and irresponsible, to put it gently, of her and her lackeys to ram the so-called FAIR plan through in the dead of the night. In your heart of hearts, I’m sure you agree with me, even if you won’t admit it.
Sure it translates into a victory for every taxpayer. Every taxpayer benefits because the rule of law is followed. We all benefit from that.
We all benefit from the courts saying to a government entity that you can’t simply move money to somewhere else just because you want to balance your own budget, that you have to follow the law. Imagine the chaos if other governmental agencies also said that they were going to arbitrarily take funds that they aren’t entitled to…
You ask some good questions. May I add a bunch?
Can any of the attorneys or politically connected people here tell us what can happen from this point forward? What’s likely?
Specifically, the news was reporting that because it was a unanimous decision, it is unlikely to be overturned on appeal. Maybe, even, the appeal won’t be granted.
If the appeal is turned down, when does this “end”?
If an appeal is granted, when does that decision probably occur? The news said about a year from now.
Like many people, I have only the haziest understanding of the hierarchy in the NYS court system. How many courts may this decision be appealed to?
Specifically, I saw this was “the appellate division of state supreme court” and that it can be appealed to the Court of Appeals. Is that judgement final? Can something like this be switched to Federal court, starting a whole other appeals process?
Well, as usual, Wikipedia helps illuminate:
… which makes it sound like there is only one appeal from here: to the Court of appeals and that isn’t necessarily likely to hear the case.
What happens to the school districts? Do they get their money now? Do they have to wait for the appeal?
If this all doesn’t end for, say a year or three– do they get a lump sum settlement at the end?
How does the county pay for that? Do they end up borrowing money and then raising taxes to service the debt?
The County will appeal to the State’s highest court. That’s as high as they can go.
Don’t forget - by the time Brooks gets done with this, she will have spent all of the sales tax intended for the schools. The county has legal costs (you pay for) the schools have legal costs (you pay for) and now the appeal will have legal costs yet again on both sides (you pay for) so by the time it gets to the highest level and gets shot down again (and it will, it was a unanimous decision, appealling it is arrogance) it will cost you even more.
If this was your employee, you would terminate them. What needs to be addressed is how this “woman” can be removed from office legally. She’s costing us a ton of money - has made huge and numerous mistakes. It’s time to send her packing.
I wanted to fire this employee last year. I wasn’t really provided an opportunity to do so. I’ve even mentioned as much, on these pages, previously…
Honestly, what difference would that make now. Even if she had a third opponent (gotta give props to Patrick Christopher) and she were re-elected and pulled this crap, what rights do we have as taxpayers to get rid of an obviously incompetent idiot? Surely there must be a safeguard built in. There certainly is at every other level of government. It’s worth exploration.
http://img109.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2008/03/22/saggietheloser-fe4qqjda.jpeg
The bottom line is, Maggie and her Republican cohorts in the county leg broke the law with the FAIR plan. Morin/Ryan was the law. She broke it and should be removed from office.
Spitzer broke the law-he was out like a shot. Why is Maggie still here?
Yeah, what ^ he said.
Not living in Monroe County, I have not followed the FAIR plan closely enough to comment intelligently. I can say, without reservation, that the school establishment knows how to use children better than anyone else to apply political pressure.
…except for Tom Reynolds…
I don’t think that was very successful.
Of course Mr. Di caro it does matter where the money is taken from and how. The way that that burdens and benefits are distributed is an important part of social policy. If the schools are left with the burden then children and other taxpayers suffer the consequences of school cutbacks. Over time these would have a substantial impact. The county leaders have to take responsibility for this problem and deal with it.
I think every government should justify the funds it expends to the taxpayers that fund that government. Many of you here at RT are quite in favor of open government and local government consolidation. Yet larger “consolidated” government entities generally give us less information and are less responsive to us. When schools use State Aid and Sales Tax revenue to fund their expenditures, they evade responsibility for their spending decisions. The State Comptroller’s report about the explosion in school costs, even as the districts were receiving record State Aid, is proof enough of this.
I have never defended the way the plan was passed. I have, and will continue to point out, however, that School spending is out of control. Giving Sales Tax funds to the Schools is like giving crack to an addict.
I think its time to start holding School officials accountable for the massive amounts of money they spend. As I’ve said before, I’m willing to pay my School taxes for the services provided by the Gates-Chili School District. Let me keep my share of the Sales Tax money and those of you in Brighton, Pittsford, Spencerport, Churchville, Fairport, and the rest, you pay for your schools with your own money.
Hey John - how about holding the County accountable for the money we spend?
I mean assuming the County loses the appeal. We are back to a $30 million dollar hole right?
Stlo7:
Yes. The County has a deficit and it will have to deal with it.
I just do not understand the “holy writ” treatment the sales tax sharing deal gets. It is a voluntary arrangement. The County never had to do it. Most Counties do not. It is probably time to revisit the set-up.
As I noted in my reply to Exile, I do not think my share of County tax revenue should be used to subsidize the choices taxpayers make in other school districts. I still believe that the County executive’s plan, properly shifted the burden of dealing with this deficit to the schools, as they have been the government entitys most responsible for spending increases in the past 5-10 years.
The real “elephant in the room” is that we are rapidly approaching the breaking point on taxes in New York. Gov. Paterson was the first person in Albany to use the “c” word (cut) regarding spending in my adult memory.
Many of you at RT have called the FAIR plan a “shell game”. If so, the reversal of the plan is just as much a shell game. No one in any school district or in the County Office building wants to raise taxes. But let’s face it; we have to raise taxes or cut spending.
After you.
I understand your point about openness and consolidation, but it does seem to me that the issue of school spending does get a lot of scrutiny, though, as it should.
As for your crack addict comparison, I think it’s unfair. This region has some of the very best high schools schools in the country. It adds a lot to the quality of living here. To me, the money is well spent.
One other thing: I don’t see how sending sales tax to the county instead of to the school districts would encourage more accountability overall. It seems to me that one of the main effects would be to make the county less accountable.
Exile:
I have previously expressed my views about school taxes. I have always supported the G-C budget and I am happy about the education my kids get there.
Consider, however, the recent examples of Gates, Greece, and Fairport schools. In the past few years, Gates has done a $65 million renovation, which included college level athletic facillities; Fairport has installed a multi-million dollar artificial turf field; and Greece built a $60 million TV studio. It’s fine for taxpayers in those districts to agree to spend their money on such projects. But what if you live in Brighton? You already spend a good dollar on school taxes and now your County Tax bill will have to go up because the County must subsidize those spending choices with your Sales Tax revenue.
I do not understand why that is deemed appropriate. I’d like to keep my County Taxes down. Let me worry about my School Tax bill.
There are legitimate debates about how things like schools should be funded. I agree with you about that.
But I don’t think there’s a legitimate defense of a iron-fisted money grab, which is what the FAIR plan was, in effect. That’s my main point here.
Greece built a $60M television studio because your boss Ralphie and Greece’s boss Little John and Lempke and the rest of the GOP West side bosses told them to. And that will be exposed. Ralphie’s participation in directing school boards and town boards in Greece is well known. Actually, to his credit, he speaks more as a supervisor in Greece, than Little John does. But Greece didn’t elect Ralphie boy. It’s not his job. Nor is it the reponsibility of the taxpayers in Greece to build the TV studio for “GOP-TV”.
Time will tell how this one plays out and who knew what and who “ultimately” ordered this ill-conceived plan.
My hope is the the ‘crooks’ end up in the cell next to Schwabb and Nicolo.
And don’t give the “innocent lambs” speech. Diraddo has already been named as the attorney who incorporated all of their illegal business endeavors.
It’s just the tip of a massive iceberg that has someones fingerprints all over it. Fortunately for the intelligent, those prints are easily identifiable.
Jiminy:
This post has me worried. The fact that Ralph Esposito runs Greece and Gates is supposed to be one of Steve Minarik’s biggest secrets! Do you have a source on the inside?!?
Seriously, you’d better check the cider you’re drinking; I think its turned.
Or perhaps you should start attending the meetings in Greece like I do so you can see it for yourself.
Giving money to the GOP run County Administration is like giving crack to deranged test chimp in a test lab.
I think it’s time to start holding Elected Officials accountable for the massive amounts of money they spend - at all levels of elected office.
[...] more on the story, RochesterTurning picks it up, as does Monroe [...]
Taxes would be manageable if there were not so many cronies and relatives having cushy jobs at taxpayer expense. There are way too many administrative positions in government at all levels and in school districts. Big budget performing arts centers and fountains and college level playing fields have no place in our schools. Connected people getting these contracts are pure payback for supporting the “machine”.
It has to end! Instead it keeps growing. Just like Alissi not getting charged…they are all protecting each others backs.
They have stolen America and are selling it to the highest bidder!
Be afraid…be very afraid! But don’t hide…ACT!!!
[...] like Monroe County may have to raise property taxes-ghast! Things didn’t work out the way you planned, huh Maggie? Now the money for the intercept has to come from the county’s part of the sales [...]
[...] as though this hurdle (court action) has provided an opportunity for our very divided legislature to reach across party lines and [...]
[...] the ruling against the unFAIR plan? Tonight the Dems introduced legislation asking County Executive Maggie Brooks to come up with a [...]
[...] blames the schools for taking “her” tax money. She blames domestic partners for costing the taxpayers [...]