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Thinking first is imperative before cuts
Published Sunday, October 12, 2008
A snip here, a snip there and pretty soon, you’ve got a county budget hairstyle that’s much shorter than last year’s.
But as any good barber will tell you, one slip of the scissors and you can wind up with an ugly situation on your hands and an unpleasant customer in your barber chair.
That’s a lesson the Adams County Board of Supervisors has learned the hard way this week.
In their cut taxes or die trying budget session, one of the line items they snipped were the two school crossing guards that work near Morgantown Elementary School.
Supervisors used what seemed to be common sense logic in making their cuts: the schools should pay for school-crossing guards.
It made sense to them so they whacked them. The problem is that they didn’t bother to communicate on this with the school district, whose office is just half a mile from the supervisors’ office.
Since then, they’ve learned that state law prohibits the crossing guards from being employed by the schools and working on county roads.
Oops. Just a little egg on their faces over that one.
Fortunately, the crossing guards have continued to keep working every morning since the Oct. 1 announcement that they’re no longer officially employed. Otherwise, something tragic could have happened, all because supervisors were quick with the scissors and slow with their heads.
Communication could have eliminated what eventually became a dangerous situation.
The supervisors should now bend over backward to reach a compromise that keeps our children safe.
Comments
Posted by bear45 (anonymous) on October 12, 2008 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Amen......what has happened to the crossing guards that worked Morgantown in the area of the COttage Grocery? I haven't seen them there in a while and that is a very dangerous crossing....Those guards were also county employees.....
Posted by Idontnoy (anonymous) on October 13, 2008 at 8:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
NOT ALL, BUT A LOT OF COUNTY SUPERVISOR BOARDS JUST DO NOT GET IT. FIRST OF ALL THEY ARE PAID BIG MONEY FOR A PART TIME POSITION WHEN THEY ARE CONSTANTLY INCREASING ITS CITIZENS TAXES NOT KNOWLEDGEABLE ENOUGH TO SEEK OTHER WAYS OF GENERATING REVENUES . SECONDLY THEY ARE ELECTED FOR THE MOST PART BY A GRASSROOT SYSTEM THAT AT THE TIME OF ELECTION ARE SWAYED TO VOTE NOT BASED ON COMPETENCY BUT INSTEAD BEST COMPANY KEEPER. MANY SUPERVISORS DO NOT HAVE THE ANALYTICAL SKILLS NECESSARY TO OPERATE. MOST ARE TO PROUD TO SEEK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX SOLUTIONS.
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on October 13, 2008 at 1:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I disagree, they are trying to run a tight ship and I, for one, appreciate their efforts
This is just a technical legalistic issue. The school board can hire these gaurds, the gaurds work off school property and do not work on the county roads, or what about city roads? The Board of Supervisors cannot supervise these gaurds, but the school principals can. It makes sense to me for these gaurds to be employed by the school system, which does receive money from the county and state, so it's just technical mumbo jumbo.
This article is just an attempt to make a good Board of Supervisors look bad. What sense does it make for a crossing gaurd, employed by a school, to not be allowed to walk across a county road, that is ridiculous. If there is such a stupid law it should be changed, I'm calling Bob Dearing today and complain about this nonsense.
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on October 13, 2008 at 1:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
and for your info idiotnoy- the BOS has NOT increased taxes. Your insults are made out of your ignorance about the good men and women we have on the BOS. Generating revenue? You mean go into private business, and generate funds other than car tags and taxes? I hope you are joking!! I think most of us agree that taxes are necessary for any government to operate, but certainly a minimum, so that leaves keeping expenses to a minimum as well.
I applaud the BOS for cutting expenses as they see fit.
But we do need crossing gaurds that is for sure for the safety of the kids. But doesn't it make sense for them to be employed by the schools where they work, so they can be properly monitored.
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on October 13, 2008 at 1:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Or for that matter, make it part of Durham's contract to employ crossing gaurds as well as run the buses. The main use of crossing gaurds is to stop traffic so the buses can enter or exit the school grounds isn't it? For The schools in my area that's the way it is, no kids walk to school anymore, they all either ride the bus or their parents bring them, or at the high school, some kids are old enough and fortunate enough to have a car for their own transportation.
Yes, let Durham hire and pay the crossing gaurds as part of their contract and the school board pay Durham as they have been doing for years now. I'm calling my County Supervisor and run that by him today.
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on October 13, 2008 at 2:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I just talked with my County Supervisor
This article is in error on this issue
The BOS DID confer with the school district prior to cutting the gaurds from their budget. The school district said they would include the pay for the gaurds in their budget, no problem. So then the BOS made their budget. Later, the school district found they had a problem paying the gaurds.
So this article is in error and the Democrat Editorial Staff owes the Adams County Board of Supervisors an apology for reporting this issue incorrectly.
Posted by foghornleghorn (anonymous) on October 13, 2008 at 4:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Their will be no apology from the ND. In their eyes, they do no wrong! They love to point out the wrongs of others but are blind to their own.
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