Bay County school administrators say they all agree that collaboration, not consolidation, is the best way for districts to continue operating within their financial means. They also agree, however, that the topic of consolidation continues to be a hot debate.

Bay County’s five school chiefs — Douglas Newcombe, John Mertz, Darren Kroczaleski, Michael Dewey and Shawn Bishop — discussed the topic again this week in the wake of a Michigan State University Study which says Michigan schools could save $612 million by consolidating to county levels.

In Bay County, the report says those savings would be about $5 million if the county’s four public school districts became one mega-district with 14,500 students.

The study, commissioned by The Bay City Times and seven affiliate newspapers, was conducted by researchers from MSU’s Education Policy Center. Without consolidating, the study also says that Bay County schools can save more than $2 million through continued collaboration. That’s where local administrators say they’ll continue to focus.

The House will gain at least two female members when the 96th Legislature convenes in January; the opposite trend of what appears likely in the Senate.
With 28 women currently serving in the House, there could be as many as 39 women in the chamber for the 2011-12 term. And if there are 31 women or more in the House then that will tie or exceed the peak membership of female lawmakers in the chamber from the 1997-98 term, according to a Gongwer News Service analysis.
Out of the 28 women now serving, nine are term-limited or will vacate their House seat because they won a spot in the Senate or lost that bid. That compares to nine women serving in the Senate, where it's predicted membership could be anywhere between two and six members for the 2011-14 term.

A case in point comes from the Washington Examiner, which reports that Rushern Baker, a candidate for the job of Prince George's executive, runs a nonprofit group that's now under investigation by Maryland officials for failing to report on the charity's financial conditions for the past three years.

The last time the group, Community Teachers Institute Inc., filed papers with the state, the organization showed it had a 2006 deficit of $500,000. A closer review of tax filings with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) shows that the organization was hardly struggling to raise money. Between 2004 and 2006 it took in about $1.8 million but spent more than $2.3 million. The bulk—$1.5 million—covered payroll, taxes and benefits, leaving only $123,750 in what IRS returns report as direct funding to students and teachers.

“Cities, like states, are not out of the woods from the recession. Unlike the federal government, they have to balance their budgets. That has led most of the cities we reviewed to raise taxes or impose new fees in their current and upcoming budgets."

The four cities looking at higher tax rates or fees that will impact a broad swath of residents or businesses in the upcoming fiscal year are Baltimore (a tax on nonprofit hospitals and universities and a variety of other new or higher taxes), Kansas City (property tax), Los Angeles (a rate increase for city-owned utilities) and Philadelphia (property and other taxes). Five other cities and Philadelphia raised broad-based taxes for the current fiscal year. That means nine of the 13 cities have raised or will raise tax rates in the past two years to cope with the impact of the recession.

On the cost side, all nine of the cities that have presented budget plans for fiscal 2011 were proposing specific job cuts, in addition to benefit or pay reductions. In most cases, the proposed job cuts were lesser in number than they had been for the current year. Many cities planned to keep doors closed on some library branches, recreation centers or firehouses that had been shuttered in fiscal 2010. However, two cities that had raised taxes this year, Columbus and Phoenix, are reopening some previously-closed community centers and restoring some previously-discontinued trash pickup. Philadelphia's mayor has said he must eliminate 339 jobs, which would require cutting library hours, deactivating two fire companies and cancelling two classes of police recruits. He has pledged to keep all functioning pools open at least through the coming summer.

Every city for which figures were available reported a marked deterioration in its pension assets. In most cases, that means cities have to shift money away from city services and into pension funds. The cities' proportions of pension assets relative to obligations fell to a median of 64 percent in 2009 from a median 79 percent in 2008. (Actuaries generally consider 80 percent a safe minimum.) Seattle had the biggest decline, down 22 points to 64 percent. Pittsburgh's pension was in the worst shape with a 34 percent funded ratio. Los Angeles' was in the best shape at 90 percent. Philadelphia's ratio fell from 55 percent to 45 percent.

When is a tax exempt property no longer tax exempt? When it is not being used, according to some municipal government authorities in Massachusetts. Nine municipalities have levied taxes on the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston for churches, schools, convents, and parish halls that are no longer used for religious purposes. Actually, they’re shuttered.

Tax assessors say that the lack of use, or in some cases, sanctioned religious use, means that the buildings are now taxable. Property is tax exempt by virtue of its tax exempt use, not simply because it is owned by a public charity or religious organization. The municipalities appear to be winning some of the arguments, as the Church has backed down and paid up for some of the closed churches.

In these times, no one should be surprised that assessors are looking at highly valued church properties that might be brought back on the tax rolls. For the Archdiocese, which is struggling to right its books after paying for costs incurred in its sexual abuse scandals, these are funds that it would dearly like to keep away from municipal coffers. A church spokesperson makes the ownership argument: “Our church properties are tax-exempt because we are a religious organization, and all properties owned by the archdiocese are tax-exempt,” but the law seems to favor the government who can give church properties a tax exemption only if they are being actively used for religious purposes.