Mansfield Gazette, The (Newspaper) - January 7, 2004, Mansfield, Pennsylvania The Mansfield GAZETTE Support Our Troops an edition ofThe Wellsboro Gazette per copy year No 13 The Marketplace 12 pages one section Mansfield PA Wednesday January 7 The Gazette 10 pages one section USPS state tax increase was probably not necessary by Chris McGann Working Pennsylvanians will pay a little more in taxes in a compromise that funds public schools but dies little to reform the local property tax system State Rep Matt Baker was not pleased with the tax increase and voted against the However he did vote for the final education budget I feel we could have passed a budget without a tax increase by utilizing other forms of ment in terms of our Bolier said Most of the state budget was finalized on time and included vere funding cuts to most state agencies Gov Ed Rend ell used his line item veto power on the cation subsidies in order to force a debate about local property tax reform which was one of his promises Baker pointed out that Rendell originally proposed an earned in- come tax of 3.76 percent up from 2.8 percent Following months of negotiation the governor and eral assembly settled on a tax rate of 3.07 percent effective Jan 1 The low income abatement was also expanded Now a family of four making less than per year will not be required to pay state income taxes In addition there are a ber of other tax hikes and fee in- creases including a 35 cent tax on each pack of cigarettes and a tax on cellular phones The budget ensures that all Pennsylvania school be funded through their fiscal years which end June 30 The budget also allocates funding in- creases I am very sorry the budget took this long because it was very traumatic to our school Baker said Several school districts ing Northern Potter threatened to close if funding was not approved soon Locally Tioga District received the highest in- crease in funding over last year Southern Tioga will get more and Wellsboro will receive an additional more In Potter County Galeton will get an additional and Northern Potter will get more The overall basic subsidy paid to school districts is up three cent or million for a total of billion Special education spending is up 3.5 percent for a- total of million In addition the budget bills call for million in block grants for schools That program will only start if there is money in the budget for it Baker said he likes the posal but he does not like that it was approved without a means to pay for it He added that the state government is totally hoping Please see BUDGET page 3 County reorganization includes return of a former commissioner phou by CHRIS MANSFIELD BOROUGH COUNCIL members from left James Fry Marianne Bozzo Robert Swinsick and John Farrer take the oath of which was administered by Mayor Tom Farrer Is new to council Council welcomes new member by Gayle Morrow Former Tioga County O Richard Bartlett will serve as the county's new chief clerk replacing Jill Hoff After a ceremony Monday Jan 5 by county dent Judge Robert Dalton new commissioners Sue Vogler and Mark Hamilton and returnee Erick Coolidge met for the annual reorganization ing with action that included Bartlett's appointment Coolidge voted against Bartlett's appointment saying an assessment of HofFs work and job performance indicates there is no flaw there and I see no need to change Vogler and Hamilton had in other published reports that there was no problem with Hoff's work but that Bartlett who had been working in burg in the state Department of Transportation may have tions in Harrisburg which could be beneficial to the county Commenting on that meeting regular Roland Delmotte noted that if Bartlett had influence in still be and suggested that if the commissioners wanted a byist they should hire one Bartlett who assumed the chief clerk duties after the vote was taken did not comment nor did Hoff who had to conduct the meeting until the appointment of Hamilton as chair Additional appointments in- cluded Vogler as vice-chairman Beth Taylor as board secretary Coolidge as public defender Tom Walrath as conflict attorney for the public defender indigent and juvenile ad- vocate George Wheeler as first district attorney Mary Beth as Domestic tions attorney Lenore Urbano as guardian ad Terry Ginn as county solicitor Erick Coolidge as board representative to the Tioga County Development tion and as new board members of the Tioga County Municipal Authority former commissioner Walter Barnes Jeanne Reich of Wellsboro and Mike Cash of erty Commissioners meetings will continue to be held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 10 in the commissioners meeting room in the Courthouse Annex Prison board meetings will be held at p.m on the second Tuesday of each month at the courthouse but will meet terly at the prison The Board for Assessment and Revision of Taxes will meet the third Tuesday of the month at 10 in the courthouse salary board meetings will follow com- missioners meetings on the ond Tuesday if needed or on the fourth Tuesday if there was no second Tuesday meeting ment board meetings will follow commissioners meetings as needed Other county reorganization action taking place Monday in- Reappointment of Deb Crawford as chief assessor of the three Sandy Higgins and Bartlett as ment board members Election of Higgins as prison board chairman and Vogler as vice-chair Prison board members also held a brief executive sion at the request of member and chairman District Attorney John Cowley to discuss legal issues Meeting later in the day as the salary board the commissioners and department heads approved 2004 salaries for the individuals currently holding the various jobs Much of the courthouse line staff including Probation Relations the Court Dis- Justices offices the Sheriffs Department district attorney's office Prothonotary Office the Please see COUNTY page 3 by Chris McGann Mansfield Borough Council like others across the state Monday night Jan Pennsylvania municipalities are required to reorganize on the first Monday of alternating aries the top piece of business be- ing to swear in newly elected On Monday council also proved a resolution noting the county's bicentennial the oath of office to Robert Swinsick James Fry Marianne Bozzo and John Farrer Only Farrer is new to the council Swinsick was re-elected cil president Steve Gee is the vice president and Bozzo is president The runs ings in the absence of the dent and vice president Meetings will follow the same schedule Regular meetings will be held the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m at the borough hall Administrative meetings which are sometimes cancelled for lack of business will be held on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m in the borough hall The borough will continue to use First Citizens Nation Bank as its depository Pennsylvania Services as the earned in- come tax collector and van der Kiel and as the solicitor Council also made several re- appointments to various boards including Robert Bartlett pal authority five year term Tom D'Angelo planning commission four year term Patty Hutcheson vacancy board yearly ment Earl Goodrich civil service commission 6 year term Farrer council representative to the shade tree commission Bozzo Gee Mike Hill and Rudy van der Hiel to the recreation committee for one year terms School districts now in line for long-awaited subsidy payments by Chris McGann Pennsylvania's 501 school dis- can breathe a little easier now that the state has finalized the education portion of the state budget The nearly six month impasse between the General Assembly and Governor Ed Rendell cost school districts in terms of inter- est on loans and lost investments There were also threats of schools closing throughout Pennsylvania The impasse finally ended two days before Christmas as the ernor signed down version of his original proposal see related Local school districts re- to the news im- pact Wellsboro Area School District received the lowest total increase among school districts in the county the minimum of two cent over last year's subsidy That was not welcome news for Wellsboro school officials We did not fare very well at said business manager Kim VanGorder She explained that the district did not get credit for factors like poverty local taxing effort or be- ing a small school district in the Department of Education's ing formula All of those factors boost the state aid to the district Since the district's budget was June 30 all districts had to estimate their state subsidies We actually budgeted 3.1 cent said Even though the district's fund balance has been depleted they are not planning to take out tional loans This year's protracted budget debate will have an impact on next year's budget said VanGorder She was named ness manager this year following the resignation of Bob Ulmer in Please see SCHOOLS page 3 Southern Tioga board hears about block scheduling customizing by Clarke After nearly five years of the block as block scheduling is called in the high schools of the Southern Tioga School District the board will consider revisions designed to customize it in the coming months Mansfield High School ance counselor Jim Keyes pre- sented a model course schedule to members of the Southern Tioga School District board of directors during a work session Monday Jan 6 in Blossburg Keyes noted that he and his team received input from staff at all three schools as they worked on the updated scheduling This is only a model designed around Mansfield High School so it doesn't coyer he told board directors Keyes said that the final course schedule for each school will be determined by that school's needs This will vary depending on the needs of the students ers and he said What we have to do is meet three basic goals educational making sure all the students are in class all day and doing it within the limitations of staff and space Keyes added The proposal for four 80 minute blocks which can be cut into as many as eight classes de- pending on course requirements will change from the current schedule of five 70 minute blocks and eliminate the need for bered days Across the board that ia what is most hated by students ers and Keyes said The customizing will allow for more teaching time by cutting the amount of teacher planning time from a full block to a half block he added Classes like math and English could be offered year round in- stead of the half year classes now offered potentially making for a better success rate on the state standardized tests The concern has been that dents are taking the be- fore they have studied the rial Under the current system dents take a full year of classes in one semester Since the block schedule lows longer classes all of the course work can theoretically be completed in a semester However if a student takes math for example in the spring they would not do as well on the math portion of the since they have not gone over the rial prior to the test The block schedule was in part to allow more time for classes like science which of- ten requires time-consuming lab work Under the revised block ule proposal courses could be of- in both block and tional scheduling depending on student needs Teacher flex time at the end of the school day would increase by ten minutes as a result of the re- scheduling allowing fox more time for after school faculty meetings One potential drawback is the possible elimination of half of the high school math electives now offered Keyes said This announcement was met with questions board ber Sue Jaquish who wanted to know how parents could be sure their students were getting the classes they need to be ready for college if math courses were be- ing cut I make sure my kid is in the classes he needs but a lot of people rely on the school to make sure their kids get the classes they need so by the time they are seniors they have everything they she said Keyes responded by saying that every student must have one science one math one English and one social studies course each year they are in high school Keyes and three other high school guidance counselors spent several hours working on the date to present to the board for consideration in February and then to the public sometime in the spring district superintendent Joseph Kalata said Kalata also noted that Career a program that guides students into good career choices for their interests and abilities will be integrated into the schedule for ation at the next regular board meeting which will be held Jan 12 at the Mansfield High School library Inside the Gazette Marketplace feature Disabled MU student needs help A young woman from Bulgaria wants to continue her dream of obtaining an education in America but circumstances that began on a positive note have be- come more difficult Page 1 Marketplace Weather Page The Marketplace Mansfield boys girls win Holiday Tournament Page 7 Gazette
