The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board held a two-hour discussion on a November funding referendum Friday morning (7.17), and appeared to be moving toward a consensus of asking voters for a 20 cent extra tax rate (per $100 of assessed valuation) which would be 10 cents more than the current referendum rate due to expire next year.

After a lengthy discussion, the board began moving toward supporting a referendum rate closest to Option 3 provided by Superintendent Allen Bourff in a recommendation provided to the board on July 13th.  You can view all three options, including option 3, at this link.

Bourff’s Option 3 calls for a referendum tax rate of 21.33 cents, 11.33 cents above the current additional rate of the previous operating referendum.  Board members began expressing a desire to adopt most of the recommendations of Option 3 at a slightly lower 20 cent rate.  HSE’s Chief Financial Officer Mike Reuter said the difference between the 21.3 cent rate and 20 cents is about $600,000 to $700,000 a year.

The board is scheduled to make a final decision on the requested referendum rate at a meeting July 21st at 7:30am.  Superintendent Bourff says he will have a recommendation to the board on how the school system would plan to spend the additional money provided by a 20 cent referendum rate at the July 21st session.

The board also will need to submit precise language to appear on the ballot on election day November 3rd.  Attorney David Day cautioned the board there is little time to negotiate over the language, since the deadline for submitting the referendum wording is fast approaching, so he recommended the board approve language likely to pass through the process quickly.

The board’s move toward a 20 cent referendum rate was partly due to a community survey conducted by a local firm, Practical Insights, which showed a great deal of voter support in additional money for local schools aimed at spending on teacher compensation and class size.  You can read the results of the survey at this link.

The Fishers Plan Commission continued a request Wednesday night to approve plans for the Whelchel Springs subdivision, proposed to be built on the south side of Southeastern Parkway between Florida Road and Cyntheanne Road.  Members of the commission were hesitant to approve the plat when parts of the housing development did not meet the city’s ordinances.  Boomerang Development assured the commission that paperwork had just been filed to put the development in compliance with local ordinances.  However, commission members did not have those changes in writing.  As a result, the developer will return to the August Plan Commission session and submit the revised specifications. Whelchel Springs is proposed to be a 261 lot subdivision built on 147 acres.

The commission approved a proposed change in the I-69 Overlay, adding the tech park located behind the Target Shopping Center near I-69 & 116th Street.  The overlay area does not allow development exempt from Indiana’s property tax.  This proposal now moves on for final approval from the city council.

In other plan commission business…

—Approved the primary plat for The Reserve at Lantern proposed subdivision with 37 lots on 22 acres, north of 126th Street between Allisonville Road and Lantern Road.   This now goes to the city council for approval.

–Approved an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance allowing additional outside building materials..  This goes to the city council for final approval.

–Approved a resolution on economic development areas along State Road 37.

When it became clear there would be only one Democrat candidate in the local general election this year, I heard some grumbling among the Republican faithful in Fishers.  Why spend all the money on an election with only one candidate of the opposite party?

Greg Purvis is running as an at-large city council candidate.  Since at-large hopefuls run in the entire city, all Fishers city precincts will be open on election day.

Now we are learning the the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Corporation is moving toward holding a referendum in November of this year, asking voters to approve funding for operating expenses. Most of the money would go toward teacher salaries and benefits, as well as class sizes. The funds could also be used to reduce or eliminate the recent fees being charged students involved in extra curricular activities, including sports.

HSE asked for an operating fund referendum tax hike of 10-cents on the property tax rate years ago and it was approved.  However, operating money referendums only last 7 years and the current 10 cent additional rate will expire next year.

The HSE School Board is nearing a decision on whether to ask local taxpayers to keep the additional 10 cent rate now in place for another 7 years, or to ask for additional money to allow better compensation for teachers and lower class sizes.  That final decision is scheduled to be made by the board on July 21st.

Once we know what the school board will be requesting from voters in the expected school referendum November 3rd, it will be clear what is at stake.

The school funding referendum means the coming general election will likely see a better voter turnout now that there will be more at stake than one at-large city council seat. School board members said in their July 13th work session that they expect organized opposition to any school referendum this time around, which is something we have rarely seen in recent HSE school funding referendums.

This will make for a much more interesting general election than we normally experience in Fishers.  LarryInFishers will be here to cover it for you.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board will decide July 21st on the language of a proposed  funding referendum and how much tax money the school system will request from taxpayers. The board also plans to meet Friday morning, July 17th, to discuss the options available on the handling of the referendum.  Both meetings will start at 7:30am.

Under current plans, the referendum would be held in the November 3rd general election this year.

HSE School Superintendent Allen Bourff presented the board with three possible scenarios for a funding referendum.  One would keep the property tax rate where it is (the previous referendum authorizing a 10 cent property tax increase for operating funds  expires at the end of next year).  The second would call for a increase of nearly six cents, the third calls for a hike of just over 11 cents.

Operating referendums only last for 7 years.  In other words, the school system would see a dramatic plunge in revenue with no action at all.

With more tax funding, local schools would be able to enhance the compensation package for teachers and reduce class size.  Additional funding could also reduce or eliminate fees parents must pay for extra curricular activities, including athletics and various clubs.

You can access the summary of the three scenarios at this link. 

The school system received good news from a private firm hired to conduct a community survey on the issue of a funding referendum.  69% of those responding favored the current 10 cent rate authorized by the last referendum.  59% said they would support increasing the property tax rate to 20 cents if the extra money is used to compensate teachers and reduce class sizes.

78% in the survey said the HSE Schools are moving in the right direction.  68% gave the local schools an A or B grade.  80% want HSE Schools to pay their teachers competitively.  86% said they moved to Fishers due to the reputation of the school system.

The survey was done using a scientific sample.  15,000 post cards were mailed to residents living in the HSE School District.  The results were from those responding.

In other news from the HSE School Board session…

–Superintendent Bourff gave the board a summary of his first 90 days on the job.  You can view his presentation at this link.

–The Senior Academies at each high school should be ready for occupancy for the start of the school year next month.  Teachers are now able to occupy the facility at Fishers High School and the same is scheduled to happen next week at HSE.  Construction crews have battled tough winter weather and a very wet spring & summer, but are still on schedule.

-The HSE High School State Championship Rugby team was honored by the board.

Shortly after Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness assumed office this year, he appointed a blue-ribbon panel to study how the city can approach issues of mental illness.  The group has been very quiet publicly, choosing to wait until its recommendations are complete before unveiling its findings.

The committee is made up of the mayor, members of the city council, representatives of the Hamilton Southeastern School System and many others.

While I was coming of age in the 1950s and 1960s, there was a societal stigma attached to anyone identified with a mental illness.  I am happy to say that stigma is slowly going away.

I am no mental health expert, but in reading and talking to people who know something about this, we all need to approach mental health the same way we approach any health issue.  For example, we don’t stigmatize people with cancer or heart disease.  We shouldn’t look down on people suffering from mental illness just because they have a medical condition in need of treatment.

The Indiana Youth Institute released some sobering numbers earlier this year.  Here’s what the Indianapolis Star reported on February 17th of this year about that report:

“Indiana has the highest rate in the country of teens who have considered suicide and the second-highest rate of those who attempted it…”

The data, from 2011, says 19% of teen students in our state contemplated suicide and 11% actually attempted to take their own life.  Suicide is just one aspect of mental health, but it is a critical one.

I honestly do not know what the city can do about this problem, but it is encouraging that the mayor’s office is making this issue one of the first priorities in the early months of the Fadness Administration.

Keep an eye out for the recommendations of this group.  It could be important to the entire community.

The Indianapolis Business Journal has put the public transit issue on the front page in the July 13-19 edition.  Reporter Lindsey Erdody presents the many opportunities and roadblocks in fashioning a public transit bus system connecting parts of Hamilton County to the Indianapolis metro area.

It is clear from her interview quotes that county elected officials are very wary of the transit issue.  Even in Carmel, which stands to benefit from the first proposed bus route, the Red Line, the city council voted down spending $200,000 to qualify for federal matching grants in completing the $2 million preliminary work on the Red Line.

The scenarios put together by the Hamilton County Transit Forum show the Red Line running from Westfield’s Grand Park, through Carmel, then south to Marion County, as the first phase is completed in 2018.  The Green Line, mapped to start in Noblesville south through Fishers and on to the Indy area, is a project set for 2025 completion.

These timelines assume the passage of a transit referendum in the November, 2016 general election.  Sources have been telling me for months that some private polling has been done on how a referendum would do in Hamilton County, and that polling has not been encouraging.  Bottom line, there is no guarantee such a referendum would pass.

The referendum would call for an income tax increase ranging from 0.1% up to 0.25%.  The larger the tax increase, the more comprehensive the service.

With Fishers scheduled for a transit system no earlier than 2025, local officials here have been hesitant to push for a system that would not be in the offing for ten years, while Westfield and Carmel would be implementing their system as early as 2018 (if all goes according to plan, and that’s a very big if).

I would encourage you to read Lindsey’s story in the IBJ if you are a subscriber.  If you don’t have an IBJ subscription, find it on a newsstand.  It is a good update on the status of mass transit proposals in the northern suburbs of Indy.

Fishers asked for bids to redevelop a half-acre plot of land in the downtown Nickel Plate District, bur the two bids submitted have been rejected because of the incentives included in the proposals.

Lindsey Erdody of the Indianapolis Business Journal posted this story on the IBJ Web site.  Read the story at this link.

We are in the heart of the road construction season and the work schedule is not slowing down in Fishers.  Below is a listing from the city with all the projects set to be done during the work week beginning Monday, July 13th…

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Burberry Place

Concrete repair work will continue taking place in Burberry Place through the week.

Eller Road Closure

Eller Road between 106th Street and 116th Street will be closed for the replacement of the bridge over Cheeney Creek. The road will be closed to traffic through early August. During this time a detour will be available along 106th Street, Allisonville Road and 116th Street. Fishers Heritage Park will be accessible during construction, and local traffic will be able to proceed south on Eller Road as far as Round Up Trail and White Horse Lane. This is a Hamilton County Highway Department project and questions can be directed to their department at (317) 773-7770.

Georgia Road

Restrictions continue the week of July 13th on 104th Street between Georgia Road and Florida Road to allow for shoulder work. There will be flaggers onsite during construction.

Lantern and Commercial

Lanes may be reduced as work on the intersection and railroad continues.  Please travel with caution in the area.

North Street

Lane restrictions will be in place until August 6th for North Street between Municipal Drive and the railroad tracks. Flaggers will be in place.

Promise Road

Utility work along Promise between 131 Street and 141 Street will continue along with periodic lane restrictions. Flaggers will be onsite.

96th Street Power Lines

Power line transfers and old pole removal will continue the week of July 13th along 96th Street going east from Cyntheanne Road to Fortville city limits. This project is ongoing and updates will be posted as they become available. Flaggers will be onsite to help direct traffic.

131st Street Construction

Road and shoulder construction will be ongoing along 131st Street between Parkside Drive and Cumberland Road. Updates on this project will be posted as they become available, and flaggers will be onsite to direct traffic.

Road Resurfacing

Scheduled to begin on the following roads:

• Cumberland Road between 131st Street and 141st Street
• Bridgewater Road
• Aldenham Place
• Doncaster Court
• Burning Ridge Lane
• Hamilton Pass

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) is donating $5,000 to the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation to support a literacy program in local elementary schools.  The money is tied to the volunteer work at the foundation by a local agent for MassMutual, Kevin Clasen.

Below is the full text of the news release from the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation:

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The Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation (HSSF) has received a $5,000 grant from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) as part of MassMutual’s national Community Service Award (CSA) program. HSSF is one of only sixteen organizations nationally to receive an award. MassMutual made the grant on behalf of the volunteer efforts of Kevin Clasen, a local MassMutual agent with WestPoint Financial Group.

“MassMutual’s Community Service Awards program aims to encourage and recognize those financial professionals who are active members of their community,” said Nick Fyntrilakis, Vice President of Community Responsibility, MassMutual. “Kevin’s volunteer work reflects MassMutual’s steadfast commitment to supporting organizations in the communities where our financial professionals live and work.”

Kevin has been an active board member with the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation since 2010 and has led fund development efforts, participated in the executive committee, served as a school based liaison, and aided strategic planning efforts. Executive Director Freedom Kolb stated, “Kevin is an out of the box thinker and has been a critical leader during a time of growth for the Foundation.  He clearly cares about local schools and students. Kevin has the charisma to rally community support to public education.”

Mass Mutual funding will be utilized to support the Elementary Literacy for All project which supplies best practice literacy curriculum to all 12 local elementary schools.