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Budget cuts, another view

As a member of NCSD Board of Trustees, Mr. Tokerud should be aware that our school district has been in crisis for quite a long time.

When stating that 86 percent of the budget goes to salaries, Mr. Tokerud failed to say that although teachers make up most of the paid positions in the district, most of the money goes to paying the administrators.

The school district budget is open to the public, if you go to: nyecounty.schoolinsites.com, you are able to see the breakdown as presented by Ray Ritchie, the district's budget director.

Although this budget may be confusing to the general public, you can see throughout the report that a considerable amount more is spent on the administrative budget than on the teachers, support staff and direct education of the students all put together.

Mr. Tokerud also states, "The district pays a competitive salary."

I would like to know as in comparison to what?

According to Payscale College Salary Report for 2009, elementary school teachers are the second-lowest-paid profession in this country. This information is repeated on other Web sites such as: fivecentnickel.com, thepost.ohio.edu, and moneywatch.bdnet.com.

If you go to Teacher Portal.com, you will find that Nevada teachers are ranked 45 in teacher salaries in this country. How would that be competitive?

As for the district paying PERS and health insurance, so do other companies that hire college graduates. Teaching is a profession that requires a degree and continued education in order to maintain a teaching certificate. The cost of this continual education falls on the teachers.

As for the teacher and support staff unions saying no to all concessions, that is completely false. I am not sure what all they gave, but I do know that their health insurance took a hit. Their unions forgave $1.5 million that the district owed to the teachers and support staff health insurance fund.

It is true that teachers said no to the furlough days because that would have been a double hit to the teachers. In accepting furlough days, they would lose pay for those days, then have to pay for those missing days later when they retired. The district was not willing to pay the PERS on the furlough days.

As to the 4 percent raise that the teachers are supposed to be getting, let me be very clear on one fact -- the teachers were told they are not receiving any raises. I wonder where Mr. Tokerud got that information.

As far as the administrators saving teaching positions, they did not. The same number of teachers and support staff were cut as was originally planned.

SYLVIA BARKDULL

Concerned citizen interested in educuation

Doing the math

According to figures published in the PVT on June 25, this is how my math shows things to be.

$366,000 to improve Simkins Park. According to the report, the entire amount will be spent in Las Vegas for a park that is rarely used. I drive by this park frequently. A 15 mph speed limit is in effect 24/7, so there is plenty of time to observe any activity there. Occasionally there are kids from the neighborhood playing on the playground. Also, a few times, there are dog trainers and a few customers. I've seen two ball games in five years.

I estimate there may be 25 people using the park in any week, but that is generous. I also estimate, based on observations, that probably five cars a week park there.

So we are going to pave the parking area, add sidewalks, a fence and some barbecues. So maybe 50 people will use it. That comes out to 2,600 people a year. If we amortize the cost of $366,000 over the five years of use by 13,000 people, the cost is $28 per person.

Next we agreed to spend $22,000 for some rocks. At least this money stays in Pahrump. Well, part of it anyway. I figure this adds up to $7,333 per rock. Maybe we should add that to the cost value of Simkins Park. This should really draw more users to the parks.

$4,000 for showing four movies. Including the $250 per showing for licensing, this is $1,250 per showing. If 600 people attend as estimated, that looks like $2.08 per person per show.

$12,000 to not have a rodeo. Maybe I can get paid to not have a music festival.

$8,000 to park 20 cars (fencing and storage moving needed to vacate the area). It seems to me there are enough parking spaces there now, so why should we pay about $40 per car to make paved parking (20 cars 10 times a year)?

No statement of cost was listed for the incorporation report or the new three-minute timer, but you can bet they were not donated gratis.

At a time when a majority were against this, and considering the economy, somebody must be benefiting, but it sure is not the residents of Pahrump.

All said in less that 3 minutes.

LOREN BARRETT

Special thanks

On behalf of the Ms. Senior Golden Years Queens Court, I want to thank B.J. Hetrick-Irwin and her board of directors for having a very successful Ms. Senior Golden Years 2010 pageant June 12.

I believe this was the best pageant ever, and I know with their expertise, future pageants will also be very successful.

I also want to thank Al Rio, the judges, Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo, Saddle West Hotel/Casino and too many others to mention, and all Pahrump residents who showed their support in attending the pageant.

I also want to thank the Pahrump Valley Times, the Mirror and Channels 30 and 41 for their support in this year's pageant.

I was overwhelmed and greatly honored to be named Ms. Senior Golden Years U.S.A. 2010 Queen. I hope to fulfill this honor with all my heart with the help of my sisters in the Queen's Court. Thank you all.

CONNIE ALUMBAUGH

MSGY 2010 Queen

Pretty unusual things

Stephanie Lopez wrote to criticize CCSC for their attempts to identify and take corrective action on what is perceived to be irregularities in the voting process in Nye County. As an individual who has experienced thirty plus years of Nye County and been a property owner for more than twenty years, I can say that I have seen some pretty unusual things.

Take for instance the elections of 2006, (not a Presidential election), and the 2008, (Presidential). I have voted in every primary and general election in Beatty since the late 1980s. I have never had to stand in line behind more than six people in order to be identified, sign in and cast my ballot until the 2006 election.

In a year when there were few contentious issues and nobody running for President, I was forced to stand in a line of people that ran out the door and down the side of the building. No one I know has ever experienced this before. I could not identify more than two people standing in line. I was told the line existed from the time the doors opened until they closed. In the 2008 election that I expected to have issues and candidates that would draw a crowd, we were back to only a very few in line at the polling place.

I go to CCSC meetings and find that information distributed is more credible than that disseminated at town board meetings. The acoustics at CCSC are such that we can understand almost every word spoken and most people stick to the subject being addressed. Everyone there seems to have the rights and needs of the citizenry at heart, and don't give me the impression that their intention is to personally profit from what they're trying to do for the people.

I have been going to Beatty Town Advisory Board (BTAB) meetings and find them to be useless. The acoustics are bad, speakers on the board make no effort to enunciate clearly and board members speak to each other in such a manner that the citizens in the audience cannot understand what is being said.

My opinion -- BTAB has for decades conducted closed meetings in violation of the "open meeting" laws of Nevada while giving the appearance of an open meeting. They have done this in an open room with a published agenda and disregarded input from the public.

Anyone who believes the election process in Nye County Nevada is up-and-up and that public officials represent the desires of Joe Q. Public is probably living in la-la land in other ways as well.

J. HARVEY

Beatty, Nev.