THE REST OF THE STORY REGARDING THE INACTIONS OF THE SCHOOL BOARD

PLEASE DON'T EMBARRASS THE SCHOOL BOARD

The Havre Daily Corrector has obtained a copy of information given to our local school board by a local tax-paying voter regarding the awarding of the Highland Park school addition to an out of town contractor.  As you might have read in the so called local newspaper, the contoversy has arisen because some locals  dared question the actions of our local tax-spending school administration.  This information is posted below following the letter that was sent to the Havre School Board by a group calling themselves "Concerned Taxpayers and Havre Public School Supporters".  As you might have gleaned from the "politically correct" reporting of the local news paper, the requests addressed in this letter were for the most part, ignored.

The Havre Daily Corrector is attempting to obtain a copy of the controversial Chamber letter sent to the school board in support of local business in lieu of out of town spending of our local tax funds.  Watch for further updates

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Concerned Taxpayers & Havre Public School Supporters
628 4th Avenue
Havre, MT 59501



October 16, 2009

Shad Huston
3633 6th Street W
Havre, MT 59501


Dear Mr. Huston;

We are requesting an Action Item to be placed on the agenda for the November 10th Havre Public School Board meeting to address the public concern over the decision and the selection process of the contractor for the Highland Park Elementary Building addition.
If an Action Item for the next meeting cannot be provided we are requesting a Special Public Meeting by the Havre Public School Board to be held to address the selection process of the contractor for the Highland Park Elementary Building addition.

Thank you in advance for your consideration for our request.

Sincerely,

Concerned Taxpayers & Havre Public School Supporters

Cc: David Mahon, Superintendent

Havre Public School Board Members: Aileen Couch, Darlene Bricker, Harvey Capellen, Lee Christianson, Cindy Erickson, Norm Proctor, Curtis Smeby

John Kelleher – Managing Editor - Havre Daily News



ACTUAL COPY OF INFORMATION PRESENTED TO HAVRE SCHOOL BOARD AS FOLLOWS;


• My name is Debi Rhines, My husband (Dave) & I are tax paying property owners in Hill County. Currently, my husband owns and operates Schine Inc., an Electrical Contracting business – Schine Electric and a Computer division - Bear Paw Technologies.

o Dave began his business in 2003; he currently employs 14 people. I currently work for Schine, Inc. overseeing the office operations.

o Schine Electric has employed upwards of 24 employees during peak construction periods.

o Schine Electric opened a shop in Glasgow, Montana in 2009, due to increased activity in the area by contractors such as Sletten & Clausen.

o Schine Electric is the largest Electrical Contractor in the Havre Area. In 2008, Schine Electric paid $654,713.00 out in Payroll to its Havre employees.

o To illuminate Information requested by the Havre Daily News and is probably of interest to the school board members.

 Schine Electric is a subcontractor for Clausen & Sons.

• Per our sales figures, in 2006 & 2007 less than 20% of our business came from our working relationship with Clausen & Sons.

• For the years 2008 & 2009 – 41% & 43% (respectfully) of sales came from contracts with Clausen & Sons. The increase in sales percentage is mainly due to large jobs such as the Border Patrol Stations built in Havre & Malta.

o Most certainly the relationship with Dave Clausen and his crew has grown over the past several years. Both firms are successful in many areas of the construction business – for example - professional installations, ability to complete contracts in a timely fashion and solid customer service.

o Regardless of our relationship with Clausen & Sons Contracting - I am here as a taxpayer in this city. Tax Dollars are used for the school district; the Havre Public Schools are funded by the collective community tax dollar. Your recent decision enabled you to use our money to supplement the livelihood of another company, their employees and the community in which they live in over 100 miles away from Havre

• In 2008, my husband and I and our commercial real estate partners paid to the Hill County Treasurer $16,738.00 in property taxes. Per the county, 47.354% of the paid taxes goes to the Havre Public Schools = that is $7,926.00 of OUR dollars sent your way for your use just last year. Now, I consider my husband, and our business partners “average” business community members in regards to property ownership. So for illustration purposes only: estimated tax dollar support could be argued to be valued around $300,000.00 or more from local business/property owners!

Estimated Business Property Owners 40
Avg tax contribution to HPS 7,900.00
Annual estimate contribution 316,000.00

This is only an estimate of business property owners in a city population of 9,630 people.

To look at the community as a whole I gathered information from Bear Paw Development.

2000 Housing Units = 4,400
2000 Average Home Value = $81,140.00
Taxable amount for an $81,140.00 home = $81,140.00 x .03010 = $2,442.00

Of the $2,442.00 paid by the homeowner an estimate of 47.354% goes to the School District = $1,156.00.
2000 Owner Occupied Housing Units by Value $50,000 - $99,999 = 54.7%.
54.7% of the total number of housing units = 2,406.
2406 Households contribute an average $1,156.00 to the district
which annually is = $2,781,336.00.

I am not claiming to be an expert in school funding, but these simple illustrations show that WE THE TAX PAYING PEOPLE OF HAVRE HAVE A LARGER STAKE IN YOUR OPERATIONS and HAVE THE RIGHT TO QUESTION THE SPENDING OF 1.3 MILLION DOLLARS.

There are no guarantees that the contractor of your choice will use local contractors. The majority of us in the contracting business live in homes within the range I have used in my illustration. These figures are from the 2000 Census. Please note our home prices have increased, thus has your revenue. I am guessing the employees of the local contractors that have been overlooked are a large percentage of the homes used in my example.

Another illustration:

o 2009 Employment numbers tell us that 4.5% of the measured and recorded populations of 4,588 people are in the construction business in Havre.

o 4.5% of the population measured is = to 206 people – if each person lives in the home previously illustrated, the collective group will have contributed a total of $238,136.00 to the district in just one year.

o Hardly a small figure to look over in regards to the construction business supporting the Havre Public School District.

• The larger corporations hire contractors based on the lowest bid – for example Wal-Mart, McDonalds & Pizza Hut – they are seeking to keep their bottom line lean – within our community these corporations hire out of town contractors – we see it frequently in our business. I can make choices on which businesses I wish to solicit – especially if I don’t feel those businesses are being a good community partner. However, I don’t have a choice to not pay my taxes based on school choosing to be a less than favorable community partner.

• In our request for a meeting with the Havre Public Schools we wanted an opportunity to discuss your decision making process. Discussion of thoughts and ideas can create a stronger relationship between the decision makers and the funding entity – US - the taxpayer.

1. How much have you actually saved between your choice and the local contractor?
2. Did you save enough money to be a good steward of our tax dollars?
3. In the process of selecting a Contractor Manager at Risk you provided a “Qualification Statement” to the contractors invited to present a Request for Qualification, your document indicates the evaluation process would be calculated by weighted criteria. What is the score? Where is the DATA?

Discussion of the process is healthy, by shutting us out – with comments like “you had your opportunity to attend the meeting” – you have created in my mind an antagonistic and a less than transparent operation with MY tax dollars. IN my view, you have taken our money out of town for your own best interests while you had a qualified and willing local contractor right here in our hometown.

• In another note – I feel you have shown a lack of integrity by making a comment to the Havre Daily in regards to your alleged communication with me, then not providing me with a copy of this communication at all. In addition, the Superintendent’s Assistant told me that my information was the information provided in the Havre Daily! Have you now appointed the Havre Daily as your new Communications Director? Under previous administrations the motto was a Tradition of Excellence. This current Havre Public School Board Chair and Superintendent have work to do to meet that description.

• Thank you for your time, I want the best for this community and questioning and understanding the decisions made by this board will offer me peace of mind that you are truly good stewards of our community tax dollars.