Board approves $32 million budget with 5 percent tax hike

The Dallas School Board approved a 5 percent tax hike in a 6-3 vote Monday for its proposed final budget.

Board members Dennis Gochoel Jr., Maureen Matiska and Karen Kyle voted against the tax increase while Russell Bigus, Richard Coslett, Bruce Goeringer, Gary Mathers, Charles Preece and Catherine Wega voted in favor of the spending plan.

The $32 million preliminary fiscal plan for the 2011-12 year was presented to the board back in February with an increase from 11.0118 to 11.5624 mills. Business Manager Grant Palfey said this could translate to an additional $85 per property for taxpayers in the district.

A mill is $1 for every $1,000 in assessed property value.

In addition to the millage increase, the budget also calls for a $10 per capita tax, a 1 percent earned income tax to be shared between the district and municipalities and a $52 emergency services tax, of which the district receives $5 with the remainder going to the municipalities that have enacted such a tax.

This budget was changed slightly since the release of Gov. Tom Corbett’s state budget in March – Palfey had anticipated about $340,000 in state funding cuts for the February budget, but the board had to deal with a nearly $900,000 state funding shortfall.

Actions to close the funding gap included using current staff to replace retiring teachers, which includes the appointment of Paul Reinert, assistant superintendent and director of curriculum and instruction, to replace Kathleen McCarthy, principal of Wycallis Elementary. Reinert will keep his title as director of curriculum and instruction, and his position of assistant superintendent will be phased out of the administrative roster.

Other penny-pinching tactics include eliminating before and after-school tutoring programs in math and reading, reducing the district speech therapist position to an hourly rate and decreasing individual building budgets for each school and the administrative wing.

All the changes added up to an $826,000 savings for the district, and Palfey said the tax increase is largely caused by the completion of the new high school building which is set to open in mid-September.

The budget is currently available for public viewing in the district’s administration offices next to Wycallis Elementary. The final budget must be passed at the board’s June 27 meeting.

The board tabled a decision to enter into an agreement with Chief Gathering LLC that would cause the company to relocate certain aspects of natural gas activities from the school district service area.

BitterRoot Valley Ammo Co. 148 grain Wadcutters?

Hi! When wadcutters are suggested a s a personal defense round, has anyone found that the BitterrootValley Ammo Company's 148-grain load, travelling at a reported velocity of 875 fps, sufficient for their needs? I remember Mas Ayoob stating that a round traveling between 750 - 850 fps would work, and that the late Jim Cirillo stated that a moderate velocity wadcutter would work. The firearm in question of use, is a J-frame style snubby in .38Special. That bullet, usually cast "dead-soft" and loaded open-end-forward over a healthy charge of Bullseye powder, was a common self-defense load back in the 70's . The expansion was usually significant, and frequently the bullet fragmented because it was not designed for that use - it just happened to be an enormous hollow cavity on a bullet that would fly reliably for the first 25 feet or so. I loaded a lot of them for friends on the local PD and SD who used them in their BUG when the standard-issue load was the Remington 158 gr LRN. All true. I'd also add that penetration is relatively light with these backwards WCs due to the heavy expansion, so I'd still probably go with them loaded nose-forward. But yeah, you can probably find better-performing rounds without much of an increase in recoil or muzzle blast. Something like these should perform well and with about the same amount of recoil (somewhat faster velocity, but with a proportionally lower bullet mass).

The Gun Digest Book of Modern Gun Values, The Shooter's Guide to Guns 1900-Present

Gun Digest Buyer's Guide to Concealed-Carry Handguns

Gun Digest 1995

Field & Stream

Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson