LEVY: Column on the money

The My Turn article in today's paper (Feb. 25) by Jim Ballew has hit the nail squarely on the head. Mr. Ballew seems to have insight and a knowledge of School District 271 that is usually not for public consumption. I am by no means a financial officer of any sort, like Mr. Ballew or the others on that finance advisory panel he was a member of; I am just a simple man, but I have been asking those same questions for years now.

If in reality 85 percent of District 271 funds are for salaries and benefits, and part-time employees are enjoying those same benefits, well, there is just something wrong with that picture. I have said in almost every letter that I have written on this levy subject that the school district has to live within the real world as the rest of us have to. We cut and adjust our budgets as is required. We have no taxpayers to try and bludgeon into paying for our frills or benefits; we have to adjust our budgets by cutting and cutting more.

The old cry of "This Is For The Children" has fallen on deaf ears in my case. District 271, "Man Up" and do the right thing by the children and the taxpayer. Trim the fat and frills out of your budgets, treat the teachers and your other employees as the private sector has to treat their employees, fair and balanced.

JOE BELINC

Hayden