MPS Hikes Property Tax 14%

[Danno321]

They just don't get it because they have never studied economics.   When taxes become a burden, the taxpayer moves away.  With MPS serving less and less "students" every year, how can they justify a 14% tax increase when the USA is in for very tough times?   If you don't believe me, just take a look at how busy restaurants are in the traditional Milwaukee area vs the Brookfield area on a weekend.  It is a wake up call to Milwaukee, but MPS has Milwaukee hostage and will kill it (i.e. Detroit v2).  The Mayor should be able to veto the MPS budget which is more to benefit teachers and administrators, not students. :bang:

[duncantuna]

Let's remember one thing .. the State of Wisconsin plus US Government picks up about 81% of the educational expense of educating an MPS student.  

That means the citizens of Milwaukee pay about 19% of the cost to educate their own students.

Go into almost every suburb around Milwaukee, and their citizens are footing the reverse percentage .. about 80% of educating a suburban child is paid for by the citizens in their suburb.

So .. what's happening next year?  The state of Wisconsin is having trouble meeting their own budget, and has roughly frozen the amount of cash they are pumping into MPS (and all other districts)

This means, if MPS wants to keep the same amount of spending, they need to start charging THEIR OWN CITIZENS proportionally more.  

Even with the 14% property tax increase .. Milwaukee citizens are STILL getting the deal of the century, paying only about 21% of the cost to educate their own children, while WI+Federal funds pick up the other 79%.

[mhz40]

Let's remember one thing .. the State of Wisconsin plus US Government picks up about 81% of the educational expense of educating an MPS student.  

That means the citizens of Milwaukee pay about 19% of the cost to educate their own students.

Go into almost every suburb around Milwaukee, and their citizens are footing the reverse percentage .. about 80% of educating a suburban child is paid for by the citizens in their suburb.

So .. what's happening next year?  The state of Wisconsin is having trouble meeting their own budget, and has roughly frozen the amount of cash they are pumping into MPS (and all other districts)

This means, if MPS wants to keep the same amount of spending, they need to start charging THEIR OWN CITIZENS proportionally more.  

Even with the 14% property tax increase .. Milwaukee citizens are STILL getting the deal of the century, paying only about 21% of the cost to educate their own children, while WI+Federal funds pick up the other 79%.

And where do the State & Fed governments get the money to distribute to MPS?  Sales tax, income tax, property tax (and lately, the Fed has simply been printing it)...
Are you saying no one in Milwaukee pays any of those taxes?  
There is no free ride here... just less of a voice when the $ comes from other sources than the local community.

[Danno321]

Let's remember one thing .. the State of Wisconsin plus US Government picks up about 81% of the educational expense of educating an MPS student.  

That means the citizens of Milwaukee pay about 19% of the cost to educate their own students.

Go into almost every suburb around Milwaukee, and their citizens are footing the reverse percentage .. about 80% of educating a suburban child is paid for by the citizens in their suburb.

So .. what's happening next year?  The state of Wisconsin is having trouble meeting their own budget, and has roughly frozen the amount of cash they are pumping into MPS (and all other districts)

This means, if MPS wants to keep the same amount of spending, they need to start charging THEIR OWN CITIZENS proportionally more.  

Even with the 14% property tax increase .. Milwaukee citizens are STILL getting the deal of the century, paying only about 21% of the cost to educate their own children, while WI+Federal funds pick up the other 79%.

"Funding for schools in the United States is complex. One current controversy stems much from the No Child Left Behind Act. The Act gives the Department of Education the right to withhold funding if it believes a school, district, or even a state is not complying and is making no effort to comply. However, federal funding accounts for little of the overall funding schools receive. The vast majority comes from the state government and in some cases from local property taxes. Various groups, many of whom are teachers, constantly push for more funding. They point to many different situations, such as the fact that in many schools funding for classroom supplies is so inadequate that teachers, especially those at the elementary level, must supplement their supplies with purchases of their own.[53]"

ref -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_States#Funding

If you have references for the MPS funding breakdown please post them.  All I can say is I am a single person home owner and this increase is the last straw for me.  Many before me have already bailed.

I have never seen why public schooling is paid for by property tax in Metro Milwaukee.  It makes no sense that single persons who own homes should have to subsidize those who have children.  And a family should have to foot at least some of the cost directly.

[jarschmd]

As an MPS alum, I can attest to the fact that MPS is full of overpaid fat cats (in administration, the "boiler room", the locker room, and in the classroom; as unfortunate as it may be).  

MPS has a whole lot of personnel that entered into the system with a genuinely fantastic "can-do" attitude, but a few years into the MPS system would make even the toughest person cringe.  There are still a good number of great examples in the system, but the system, itself, is broken.

Most of the kids (i.e. students or parents, for that matter) couldn't care less about learning, and it is simply better to not have many of these students in the classroom.  Even if MPS achieved higher graduation rates, this wouldn't be anywhere near a metric of success.  Many of the school choice programs that receive vouchers from MPS and the state of WI and the federal gov't are for-profit organizations registered as non-profit or religious or some tax-exempt status.  MPS is not only getting ripped off from their own payroll, but also on the add'l corruption that now occurs outside of their control.  If anyone doubts this, they should get a hold of the list of voucher schools that were paid in FY 2007...drive by them...you'll find converted warehouses on the role...and those are some of the "decent" organizations/examples...

It's not going to ever be a better deal for the Milwaukee taxpayer than it currently is (I agree with the other poster, go figure)...which is why you should move to another locale, whether single or a family of 4...time to pick up anchor...MPS is broken.  Don't pay your kids' education or your property taxes to fix it; it's far, far too great of a cost...

[jkane]

An uneducated population costs the entire community, not just those with dumb kids.  Pay taxes now to educate them, or pay taxes later to care for them.

[gb4fan92]

An uneducated population costs the entire community, not just those with dumb kids.  Pay taxes now to educate them, or pay taxes later to care for them.

LOL!!! You could run for public office with that slogan! :rof:

[SRW1000]

An uneducated population costs the entire community, not just those with dumb kids.  Pay taxes now to educate them, or pay taxes later to care for them.

just continuing to spend more and more money on "education" doesn't necessarily lead to better education.

Scott

[tunce]

HA, have fun paying that!  Stupid Milwaukee; school tax, wheel tax, sales tax, and 9 days of sick pay for everyone (temp, part-time, and full-time) this is just for this year whats next?

There won't be any businesses here to help pay for this after a few years - oh just wait until Obama redistributes the wealth and taxes the CRAP out of every business in the US.  Good luck with that people you are going to get what you always wanted your super utopia of socialism!

[Matt Heebner]

Socialism = suckling of the government teet.

Socialism doesn't work,and never will. Unfortunatly I think we are going to see exactly this for the next four years.....
And thank GOD I don't live in MPS system !!!!

"Wouldn't it be great to spread the wealth around"

:huh?:

[jarschmd]

An uneducated population costs the entire community, not just those with dumb kids.  Pay taxes now to educate them, or pay taxes later to care for them.

or...just move out of Milwaukee County...or leave your dumb kids in Nebraska, no questions ax'ed.

I forgot; I finna ax somebody.....

[Danno321]

or...just move out of Milwaukee County...or leave your dumb kids in Nebraska, no questions ax'ed.

I forgot; I finna ax somebody.....

I had plans to move by saving for a bigger down payment for a house I would want to live in for the next 15 years (outside Milw Cty).   But after saving and positioning conservatively, the charlatans bid up housing prices to insane levels (exponential curve), built a house of cards, and imploded the economy.  So I put my move on hold but now I am actively looking again but houses are still overvalued (median house price to median income ratio history).  14%!

[Talos4]

Let's remember one thing .. the State of Wisconsin plus US Government picks up about 81% of the educational expense of educating an MPS student.  

That means the citizens of Milwaukee pay about 19% of the cost to educate their own students.

Go into almost every suburb around Milwaukee, and their citizens are footing the reverse percentage .. about 80% of educating a suburban child is paid for by the citizens in their suburb.

So .. what's happening next year?  The state of Wisconsin is having trouble meeting their own budget, and has roughly frozen the amount of cash they are pumping into MPS (and all other districts)

This means, if MPS wants to keep the same amount of spending, they need to start charging THEIR OWN CITIZENS proportionally more.  

Even with the 14% property tax increase .. Milwaukee citizens are STILL getting the deal of the century, paying only about 21% of the cost to educate their own children, while WI+Federal funds pick up the other 79%.

That's fine for school districts seeing increases or at least stable student populations. If the local residents want to spend money on building new facilities they have an opportunity to at least vote up or down (regardless of how the local district tries to scare the bejeezes out of you by threatening to drop K-4 or some other program(s) to illustrate the dire need for whatever they want.)

In Milwaukee you have to wait until 2am to maybe have your say in front of the board to no avail.

MPS is just another example of a bloated government agency that cannot reign in spending or even stay within what passes for a budget.

One example:

Working for a city of Milwaukee based company that provides a fairly specialzed service to MPS, there is no reason for them to issue RFP's that specifies a Cadillac system when a Chevy will do just fine. While they will only award the low bid, a cheaper Cadillac is still a Cadillac.

Voluntary alternates are not accepted. We are conscious of the funds available to our customers and look for ways to save them money and still get them a good system.  

Don't get me wrong, we'll accept the work if we're low bid. and in our business there's ALOT of it within the MPS system. It just makes you wonder, that if they are specifying Cadillac's in our business what about the rest of the services that are bid out.  

It's real easy to say MOVE! if you don't like it. How practical is that? It's not for me.  I've invested quite a bit of time and money into my home and I'm not about to start that process all over again anytime soon. I'm not a young man anymore;) .

[jkane]

Socialism = suckling of the government teet.

Socialism doesn't work,and never will. Unfortunatly I think we are going to see exactly this for the next four years.....
And thank GOD I don't live in MPS system !!!!

"Wouldn't it be great to spread the wealth around"

:huh?:

Free Range Capitalism works great too.  It just cost you and me $800 BILLION!

Don't misunderstand me.   I am not in any way for socialism.  I used to be a capitalist.  Until this past month.  Grrrrr!

[Bluto]

That wasn't the fault of capitalism.  That was the fault of the government getting involved, trying to set up an environment where darn near anyone could get a loan to buy a house.  

Worked great, didn't it. :rolleyes: