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Group may contest district bond issue

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REILY TWP. — Some area residents are weighing options to stop construction at the new Talawanda High School.

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Shirley Burgher has a long history of involvement with the school issues, and she is probably right on the money. Miami may have allowed Citizens for Talawanda Schools to place campaign ads on dining hall tables to encourage students to vote for this issue. The votes to pass this issue came from precincts 6, 7, 11 and 12, all student precincts and 3 of them on campus. Even President Hodge wrote a letter to the editor of the Oxford Press in favor of the issue. I would call that involvement.

Mike Schnipper
6:03 PM, 8/2/2009

Rich, I have have not been back to this site and article to respond.

Mike Schnipper
5:58 PM, 8/2/2009

Concerned Parent, you have been listening to the CFTS propaganda too long. CFTS was telling voters we were in the bottom third of the county when we were in the top third. Your move if you don't like it is a great attitude. And no, I do not rent to students.

Mike Schnipper
5:57 PM, 8/2/2009

SmartFarmer, we can find cheaper taxes almost any where in Butler County. We now have the 5th highest property taxes in the county, and that does not include the 1% income tax the school gets.

Mike Schnipper
5:52 PM, 8/2/2009

Shirley Burgher once again speaks about something she knows nothing about. Miami tries its hardest to distance itself from Talawanda. Faculty and staff are disciplined for working on Talawanda issues because anti-Talawanda employees rat them out. Many of the budgetary and image issues that Miami faces right now are due to Miami not taking a more prominent role in their community, particularly with the schools. Shirley, please stop writing about things you don't know about!

shirley?
2:10 PM, 6/11/2009

"a concerned parent", while I (as someone who lives in a neighboring district, not Talawanda) certainly oppose this misguided repeal effort, you're overstating the issue a lot when you say "the children of the district...have to endure some of the worst facilities in the state." That's certainly untrue.
It is interesting that Mr. Schnipper read and responded to one supportive comment posted here last night, but not a single one since.

Rich
9:40 PM, 6/10/2009

The real victims of Mr. Schnipper's efforts will be the children of the district who have to endure some of the worst facilities in the state. Who is greedy? Talawanda has one of the lowest tax rates around. I agree with smartfarmer. Move elsewhere. I wonder, does Schnipper own houses he rents to Miami students? Again, who is greedy.

a concerned parent
4:21 PM, 6/10/2009

Talawanda is lucky to have a treasurer like Mike Davis. He has cut operational costs for this district every single year that he has been here. He has saved the Talawanda taxpayers a fortune. This is why Talawanda has not had put an operations levy up since 2004 and will not have to put one up until 2011 or hopefully later.

responsetocaughtyou2
4:11 PM, 6/10/2009

If you think you find cheaper taxes, move somewhere else. How is this any different than busing old people in to vote? The only difference is that it didn't go your way.

smartfarmer
2:07 PM, 6/10/2009

I attended this meeting and was embarrassed at the ignorance of my neighbors. Talawanda had the lowest taxes before the bond issue and even after is still 7th out of 10 districts in Butler Co. I'm thankful that the students DID vote because too many in the townships are ignorant to the reasons schools have to ask tax payers repeatedly for money. If the state would change the way school was funded they wouldn't have to. Contact your senators, don't give money to this guy!

Embarrassed Reily Resident
1:54 PM, 6/10/2009

Kudos to Mike Schnipper...the dirty dealing stemming from Miami University (who pays no taxes) has gone on far too long...Miami dictates what goes on in the Talawanda School District and pretty much controls how much we pay in property taxes thru the student vote...Mike Fox had a hand in that also....It's about time people got up in arms about it....by the way there were 200 chairs set up with all filled and not much standing room

Shirley Burgher
1:16 PM, 6/10/2009

Caughtyou, you don't know what you are talking about. Mr. Davis was there but he did not videotape the meeting. He was there to listen to what a group of taxpayers are considering to do that will impact the budget of the entire school district. That is his job. You could criticize him for not attending, but your criticism of his being there makes no sense. He DID not videotape it -- stop spreading untruths.

responsetocaughtyou
11:06 AM, 6/10/2009

Unlike the City of Oxford's income tax, the Talawanda School Board's income tax includes pension income. The law now permits Talawanda to exempt pension income. Such a change might attract votes for tax levies from people on fixed incomes. Such people still would pay real estate taxes for the schools. Exempting pension income would require a higher income tax rate for the remaining income tax payers. Whether this is realistic, I don't know.

retired
9:57 AM, 6/10/2009

Special elections always cost extra money and they are held on specified Tuesdays. I believe those in charge of this PAC need to understand what they can and can't do before trying to get voters to rise up in revolt against what seems to the burden created by the student vote. Why do people resort to twisting the facts in order to gain the attention of the voters?

DLSE
7:17 AM, 6/10/2009

Mr. Schnipper, assuming you were correctly quoted in this article, I'm afraid you're badly mistaken about having the ability to pick and choose any Tuesday you want for a special election. State law is quite specific about when elections may occur -- for example, in 2009 the ONLY dates are Feb. 3, May 5, Aug. 4, and Nov. 3 -- NO OTHER DATES. This is basic election law, every year. In fact, there's even been talk about removing some possible dates to save money!

Rich
11:57 PM, 6/9/2009

You are correct. Davis was in the front row.
I am submitting a letter to both the Oxford Press and the Hamilton Journal to show the inaccuracies in Gauthier's reporting. Let's see if they print it.

Michael Schnipper
10:29 PM, 6/9/2009

I heard the Talawanda school treasurer showed up at the Reily Community Center with his video camera probably so he can make sure any parents in the room will feel the pain of retaliation. You see, the newest treasurer is part of a musical chairs game school treasurers played all over Ohio in the last 5 yrs. They resign midterm and switch districts for more pay. They stay a year or two and start the game over.

caught you
9:23 PM, 6/9/2009

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