It’s official: All the smart people HAVE left District 150 for Dunlap
Anyone prone to upset stomach or sudden bouts of projectile vomiting are advised to not read the following story:
Jeanne Williamson, an assistant superintendent of school operations at District 150 before she left in 2002 to become superintendent of Dunlap School District 323, was hired as a consultant. She retired from District 323 at the end of June.
Williamson’s job will be to devise a plan to reconfigure the district’s high schools, board President Debbie Wolfmeyer said.
District 150 spokeswoman Stacey Shangraw said Williamson will be “in charge of the project implementation,” referring to the district’s move to close a high school at the end of the 2009-10 school year.
And the sick-making part:
Williamson is to be paid $350 per day up to a maximum of 120 days.
That’s $42,000.
To help the district save money. Yeah.
Because none of the many, many administrators currently employed by District 150 can do this. Maybe being at Dunlap caused magic pixie dust to sprinkle on her and make her smarter than the dregs now administrating at District 150.
I had some run ins with Jeanne Williamson back when I edited the Peoria Times-Observer when we pretended to cover Dunlap.
She tried to convince me that when the property tax rate stays the same, even though property tax bills go up, it’s not really a tax increase. So don’t expect fiscal honesty from her.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Another $ 42,000 spent on something overpaid District staff should be able to handle. Can’t Hinton roll up his own sleeves and get a little dirty doing his own job?
I really galls me that 150 says they don’t have enough money to hire enough teachers to have smaller class size, but they have enough money to pay someone to sit on their butt and “advise” district administrators what they should do when they are going to do what they want anyway. No administrator should be making more money than the teachers who educate our country’s future.
If your assessment goes up but the tax rate does not, I’d agree with Williamson. That not a tax increase. By your logic moving into a nicer house in the same neighborhood is a tax increase because your going to be paying more total $$$s.
mcsey: So, if I get a Monster Burger one day instead of a hamburger off the kids menu, that’s the same thing as increasing the price of a burger.
It depends Billy, on whether mcsey is talking about an increased assessment when no improvements are being made to the structure or if he is talking about an increased assessment after remodeling. I would agree that it is not a tax increase IF you add on to your house and as a result the assessment goes up. But if that is not the case and your assessment increases I would agree that is an increase.
A better comparison would be if one day I buy a burger and then the next day I buy a burger and fries. I wouldn’t consider that extra tax on the fries as a tax increase. However, if the government came in and said that the original burger was now $0.50 more for no justifiable reason then I would agree that is a tax increase.
I am specifically referring to the practive of school boards, city councils, etc. voting to set the property tax levy at a figure that they KNOW will trigger a rate that is the same of lower than the current rate. They do this because property tax accessors — an agency of government — has assessed higher property values for existing property. Some of the increased Equalized Assessed Valuation is also due to new development) The point is that it is a dodge. More property taxes as paid by individuals, but the rate is lower. Big fat hairy deal.
I have mentioned this in many posts: Here and here.
Bill – it is called inflation.
If I buy a Monster burger for $5 last week and the price goes up to $6 next week, I am paying more tax. My tax rate is the same. That is not a tax increase.
I’m totally with you, Billy, on the tax increase issue. Your tax bill – i.e. what you pay in property tax for the year, will go up if either 1. The rate goes up or 2. the assessment goes up. Either way, what you pay, and thus what the taxing authority collects, is more for the year. Sorry, Anon E. Mouse, if you pay more taxes on the same property from one year to the next, isn’t that the very definition of a tax increase?
I would absolutely expect that someone in Williamson’s position would have been more forthright in her explanation to you, Billy.