The three Citizen’s Petitions below were submitted to the School Board to appear on the ballot in March as Warrant Articles. Vote YES on all three.

• Lease Purchase Agreement: Shall the Timberlane Regional School District (TRSD) vote to rescind and terminate the March 14, 2023 adoption of Article-3 Lease Purchase Agreement of $25,243,000 as authorized by TRSD.
• Fund Balance Retention: Shall the Timberlane Regional School District (TRSD) vote to rescind the March 14, 2023 adoption of Article-15 Fund Balance Retention of 5% as authorized by TRSD.
• 2.5% Tax Cap on Operating Budget: Shall the Timberlane Regional School District (TRSD) vote to adopt the provisions of RSA 32:5-b, and implement a tax cap whereby the governing body and budget committee shall not submit a recommended budget that increases the amount to be raised by local taxes, based on the prior fiscal year’s actual amount of local taxes raised, by more than 2.5%.

After pledging to return the entirety of the $16.4 million 23-24 budget surplus, the school board has instead voted to retain $3.5 million. They intend to conduct a special meeting where the public can vote on whether or not to use the $3.5 million to make a payment towards the EEI lease for projects being completed around the district. They say that making the lease payment will save $1.4 million in interest. There are two problems with this.

1. The $3.5 million withheld from the 23-24 surplus is not needed to make this lease payment. The 24-25 budget includes $2.1 million to be used towards a lease payment and the district received an additional $1 million from the state in adequacy aid. The $3.5 million in surplus from 23-24 could have been returned to the taxpayers and the lease payment could have been made (still saving the $1.4 million in interest) using money from the current 24-25 budget.
2. Even if, at the special meeting that has yet to be scheduled or announced, the public votes against using the $3.5 million withheld from the 23-24 surplus, it’s too late for this money to be returned to the taxpayers. It will have to carry over to the 24-25 budget, presumably contributing to another massive budget surplus next year (unless the school board does everything in their power to spend it down).

Below is a PDF copy of the statement made by John Downing at Delegates and Individuals to the school board on 9/5/2024. The suggestion was ignored.

Sixteen million, three hundred ninety thousand, two hundred and thirty-seven dollars.

That’s the amount of money in Timberlane’s unassigned fund balance (commonly referred to as budget surplus). Almost 16.4 million in tax dollars that property owners in the district didn’t need to be taxed for.

This school board, the budget committee, and the CFO are utterly incompetent.

Reference the previous blog post below about the budget committee’s “rubber stamp everything” nature, and then read this quote from the November 21, 2023 budget committee meeting minutes:

The proposed budget is up 3.6% from the current FY2024 budget and includes all the requests that were made by the administrators for this budget season.

They do not say “NO” to anything. They believe that the taxpayers of this district are an open checkbook available to be used for anything and everything that is requested – no scrutiny, no oversight.

The Budget Committee will start preparing the 25-26 budget soon. Will they have the gall to propose yet another budget increase after stacking a $6 million dollar increase for 24-25 on top of a 23-24 budget that was $16.4 million too high? Contact them and tell them enough is enough.

Deflection, Rubber Stamping, and Rudeness

First on Facebook and now publicly in the 6/20/24 school board meeting, Jack Sapia has placed the blame for the current community unrest over property taxes on a school board from two years ago.

TRSD Budget History

• 2024-2025 (Upcoming year)
  • Proposed: $89,120,265 Vote passed
  • Default: $89,585,373
• 2023-2024
  • Proposed: $83,270,418.18 Vote passed
  • Default: $81,401,106.67
• 2022-2023
  • Proposed: $75,753,607 Vote passed
  • Default: $76,300,383
• 2021-2022
  • Proposed: $74,318,918 Vote passed
  • Default: $74,973,634

The problem is that Jack supported the 2024-2025 proposed budget, with its $6m increase from 2023-2024. That’s AFTER the already huge $7.5 million increase from 2022-2023.

On the other hand, props to Jack for at least attempting to be a respectful human being to the school district’s long term substitute teacher that was speaking at the meeting. It’s unfortunate that the board chair doesn’t have the same respect.

Watch the video if you’re curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRSXrT33avM

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Look at that. Karl Ingoldsby sold the old tractor. The question is: How long would that have stuck around if it wasn’t for a taxpayer directly bringing it to the attention of the superintendent and school board?

People don’t like their money being messed with, so now they are watching.

• We are watching Karl justify a standalone $50k+ infield groomer with every available accessory. Why is this necessary immediately after purchasing a $69k tractor? There are such things as infield grooming attachments that can be used with a tractor. The old groomer was purchased used and lasted 9 years. Why wouldn’t either of these avenues be pursued instead?
• We are watching what transpires with the “floor replacement” that Karl keeps talking about. Why does the floor need to be replaced in the first place? How can it be that paying MILLIONS to rip up all of the floors and have asbestos abatement performed is the only possible option? The floors are said to be 20 years old. Why would asbestos have been used in 2004? Where is the documentation for any of this?
• We are watching what transpires with the request for yet another maintenance vehicle. How many maintenance vehicles are needed for a 15 mile radius? Are there even enough employees to be driving all of these vehicles simultaneously?
• We are watching what transpires with the parking lot line painting. Is this really an urgent issue that needs immediate prioritizing given all of the other pending projects?
• We are watching what transpires with the parking lot crack sealing. Is this really an urgent issue that needs immediate prioritizing given all of the other pending projects?
• We are watching what transpires with the request to replace fencing on the grounds.
• We are watching what transpires with the $3m solar panel proposal. Does the public even have an appetite for this? Put it on a warrant article and find out!

Mr. Ingoldsby likes to spend money, and he likes shiny new toys. Cost is never a consideration, and it needs to be.

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Now they want full day kindergarten!

As if the recent exorbitant property tax increases have not been difficult enough, Mark Sherwood, Timberlane Regional School Board member from Sandown, got in front of the Sandown Board of Selectmen and campaigned for support of taxpayer-funded full day kindergarten.

Watch the video from last night’s Sandown BOS meeting here: http://173.209.96.235/CablecastPublicSite/show/2123

The budget committee has proposed budgets with consecutive 9% and 6% increases AND now the school board wants to stack the cost of full day kindergarten on top of that! Mr. Sherwood even said the quiet part out loud: the people who are asking for this want it for the child care. They have ZERO regard for you as a taxpayer.

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Did you know?

Right To Know requests (RSA 91-A) have revealed the following purchases with your money:

• A $2,000 boat for the pond at Timberlane Regional High School that taxpayers also paid to have dredged. Why?
• A brand new farm tractor. This went out for bids. 4 bids were received from different vendors: $52k, $62k, $67k, and $69k. The most expensive bid of $69k was accepted. Why? Worse, the old tractor was supposed to be sold to recoup costs. The old tractor is still being used today. Why?
• A GPS line painting machine for $25k. Take a stroll through campus – you’ll see lines being manually painted on the grounds with the old machine. Why?
• $150,000 tennis court lights. First of all, these tennis courts were paid for with $500k of surplus dollars that were not budgeted for and should have been returned to the taxpayers. Second of all, this light project should have gone out to bid since it was over the current policy’s bid threshold of $50,000. It did not go out for bids. The project was broken into individual parts and labor purchases, each under $50,000, to avoid the bidding process. This is known as bid splitting or bid rigging. Also, who plays tennis in the winter or in the middle of the night?
• Multiple orders of $4,500 to buy retirement gifts. Why isn’t this being funded by the teachers union or donations?

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Some updates

• Several people spoke at the Delegates & Individuals segment of the school board meeting on 5/16. All who spoke voiced their concerns regarding the school district’s spending and requested that the unprecedented $11.1m in budget surplus be RETURNED TO THE TAXPAYERS.
• Concerned citizens held and attended another successful meeting at the Danville Community Center where a wealth of information was shared regarding what our tax dollars are being spent on. Watch the video.

A note about unfilled TRSD jobs

• This school district, at any given time, has approximately 70 open, posted positions.
• This number of open positions, generally speaking, is budgeted for EVERY YEAR. As the 2023-2024 school year comes to a close, this number of unfilled positions resulted in $5.3m of the $11.1m budget surplus. This was presented at the 5/2/2024 school board meeting.
• When you vote on the budget proposed by the budget committee in March, you are voting for these dollars to be used to pay for these faculty/staff positions.
• When these positions have not been filled at the end of the school year, the current school board instead uses this money for UNNECESSARY, UNBUDGETED pet projects like tennis courts and tennis court lights!

A question about the proposed budget

• The proposed 2024-2025 budget that was voted on and passed in March of this year is $89,120,265. Compared to this current year’s (2023-2024) proposed and passed budget of $83,270,418, that’s an increase almost $6.2 million.
• If school year 2023-2024 is ending with an $11m surplus, why did the budget committee propose a budget for 2025-2025 that includes a $6.2m increase?
• The budget committee and the school board know that they will have a surplus that can be spent on unnecessary, unbudgeted pet projects. This is blatantly reckless and irresponsible spending of your tax dollars.

• IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. This proposed budget increase for 2024-2025 was presented for discussion at the Timberlane deliberative session in February, 2024.
• A motion was made to reduce the budget by $6.2 million. This motion was voted down, 115-76.
• Another motion was made to reduce the budget by $3.5 million. This motion was voted down, 116-77.
• The proposed budget could have been reduced at the Timberlane deliberative session with a mere 40 more votes. Your voice can be heard by simply showing up and voting at the deliberative session. Mark your calendars, get a babysitter, attend the deliberative session and this spending insanity can be stopped.

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For those who did not attend the school board meeting last night (or watch the video), the administration revealed there is currently $11+ million in the unassigned fund balance (surplus). You can find documentation on this in the meeting agenda packet here: https://timbertaxes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/05-02-24-School-Board-Agenda-Packet-1.pdf

The books close June 30th. What remains to be seen is how much of this surplus is spent between now and June 30th – that will determine how much of the surplus is returned to us taxpayers.

DID YOU KNOW?

Last year, at the June 28th, 2023 school board meeting, a surplus was reported of $4.1 million. Only $1.6 million was returned to the taxpayers. This administration and school board is going to try to spend down this year’s $11m surplus on projects AGAIN.

Now is the time to contact the school board and the superintendent and ask that no dollars be transferred out of the unassigned fund balance for projects and ALL of the surplus is returned! Tell them we expect additional updates on the unassigned fund balance between now and June 30th!

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Today, we reached 400 members in the Facebook group! This is a huge milestone as we work towards getting our message out to as many Timberlane taxpayers as possible.

Please continue to invite your friends and neighbors to the group and share this website with them!

There is a LOT of work going on behind the scenes to educate folks on exactly what is happening with our tax dollars, and we will have updates and additional information to share in the near future.

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Video recording: https://www.facebook.com/100000208915751/videos/389569630605290/

Thank you to everyone involved in making today’s school tax impact discussion a success. It was a great meeting with alot of good info, spirit & camaraderie.

Thank you to Doug Gelina, our Facilitator – great job managing the event.

Thanks also to Dave Drislane, Aaron Greene, John Mileti & his wife, Lisa , Josh Manning, Tammy Cooper, Sayra DeVito, Carol SF, Lisa Barr & Kim Burke Ivas.

Great big thanks also go out to reps Shawn ONeil, Josh Yokela, Scott Wallace, & Emily Phillips for their presentations and Q&A as well as Paul Pazolt for videotaping the event.

Also, thank you to Sheila Lowes, your presence & information was so very appreciated.

To everyone who helped put this event on, it was a resounding success & all of our work paid off.