Situational Ethics
POTTSTOWN, PA – Not too long ago, one of our wise and revered SavePottstown!! readers made an interesting comment about Pottstown School Board member Thomas Hylton: “He will say ANYTHING to get his way. His ethics are purely situational. If he is in total control, then it’s just and right that the ability to borrow be protected. If he is not getting his way, then he doesn’t want a nickel out there for those who dare to disagree with him.”
Tomorrow night is the regular monthly meeting of the Pottstown School Board and most likely the board will be putting to a second vote its resolution to approve forward borrowing. We wrote about this issue last month and the tie vote that resulted due to the absence of board member Robert Hartman.
As no surprise, in today’s print edition of The Mercury there appears yet another sad and desperate attempt to strike fear and terror in the hearts of the Mercury’s paid subscriber base (Pottstown’s senior voting population).
While we vowed not to comment on paid advertising appearing in The Mercury, we just couldn’t let this mealy-mouthed advertisement pass without a proper (and truthful!) rebuttal.
Isn’t it interesting that only one year ago Tom Hylton was trying to move as fast as he could to spend at least $15 million of our taxpaying dollars for historically-accurate windows and geothermal heating for some of the district’s 40+ year old elementary schools?
But yet now he’s crying a river about how the Pottstown School District is “hemorrhaging tens of thousands of dollars monthly”.
And isn’t it also convenient that within the next few months, the President’s Task Force will be finalizing their recommendations on what to do with Pottstown’s overabundant number of elementary schools…and will most likely require some kind of funding (such as funds available through forward borrowing) to implement their recommendations?
Egad! That means if there’s no money available for task force recommendations…then the school district just might have to keep school configurations as they are now…which means that Pottstown’s taxes will continue to be the 7th highest in Pennsylvania.
Webster’s Dictionary describes a hypocrite as a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
Wow…talk about hitting the nail on the head!
I’m actually moving to the area next month and have been following the tax issues surrounding Pottstown closely.
Why are the taxes soo brutally high? The school district appears to be an absolute mess and the high taxes don’t seem to help improve conditions. Is voting out Hylton and others going to improve anything?
Also, I saw that LA Fitness,BestBuy & Target have moved into the area. Shouldn’t that be alleviating some of the taxes passed onto the homeowners?
Sadly, the entire premise of Thomas Hylton’s latest advertorial is precisely The Problem With Pottstown. As long as Pottstown keeps focusing on TAX RATES and ignoring the TAX BASE, we are going to continue to have a financial mess on our hands.
Tom’s argument is just that: an argument…. it is argumentative, designed to anger and incite and keep Pottstown taxpayers afraid of action – any action. At its essence, it is no better than fear mongering. He offers no solutions whatsoever. Those of us who know him suspect that’s because any solution to the problem with the tax BASE would involve cleaning up slums; and cleaning up slums might mean tearing down a building or two. And in Tom Hylton’s world buildings are more important than people.
Tom’s refusal to address the real problem – the tax BASE – might also have something to do with his curious belief that “neighborhood schools” are the panacea for every societal ill (even though they haven’t done a thing to help the town that actually has them).
This latest advertorial is part of the problem, not the solution. Just take a look at the list of how local districts rank in terms of tax RATE (burden, millage, whatever you want to call it). I’d be willing to bet that if you looked at substandard housing as a percentage of total housing, the districts would be ranked pretty much in the same order. The more low-value, distressed, blighted property in a school district, the more severe the tax burden on the rest of the properties and their owners.
Pottstown’s problem is with its tax BASE. Until the town comes together in a concerted effort to tackle that problem, we are not going to find effective, long-term solutions. As long as political hacks like Thomas Hylton spend all their resources keeping taxpayers fighting, angry, and afraid, nothing meaningful can happen. How sad that he is doing it all in the interest of his book sales and speaker fees and not in the interests of Pottstown.
How sad that The Mercury feels no obligation to present the whole picture to its readers. To tell them that a forward borrowing resolution will not necessarily result in borrowing. That a vote in favor of forward borrowing is a vote to protect OPTIONS. That a vote against forward borrowing is a vote to further impair a district that is already reeling from the impairments forced upon it first by the state legislature and second by a governor more interested in making a name for himself than having a positive impact on Pennyslvania.
A couple of years ago, The Mercury passionately editorialized that it would be irresponsible for the school board to let the forward borrowing resolution expire. But that was when Tom Hylton believed he could control the expenditure of those funds. Now he finds himself not quite as powerful as he thought he would be, he is suddenly opposed to this resource.
If The Mercury wanted to prove to this community that Tom Hylton doesn’t own its soul and dictate its editorial positions, then it will show a little consistency and stand by its previous assertions. Come on, Mercury. Prove us all wrong. Stand up to Hylton. Stand up for Pottstown.
WAFTP, beautiful outline of the realities.
movingtoptown, welcome. One of the awesome assets we have here are people. Pottstown has some true hidden gems that have seen the light and are coming together to support worthy efforts and work hard to make positive changes here. There is something in the air and change for the better is becoming palpable.
Contributions to that effort have been made, in no small part, on behalf of SavePottstown. The in-depth research and fact finding that is provided here are worlds away from the ho hum slanted verbiage of our local newspaper and the man, Thomas Hylton, in whom they have placed their misguided support. But never mind – if the Mercury, (not unlike other archaic institutions here), doesn’t find their way and begin embracing the worthy ideas of others that will lead to cleaning up this town and attracting a healthy tax base, they will simply cease to be. The ranks are swelling and for them to continue to embrace the same untenable position will leave them in the dust of progress and forward motion.
You are actually moving here at a very exciting time in the history of Pottstown. There’s the Heritage Action planning that will provide grant monies and a vision for giving people a reason to come here and check out the town, (positivelyposttstown.com), Roy Keeler’s blog, (roysrants.com), gives this community a reality check about what other communities have undertaken to revitalize and Roy’s “pull no punches” style calls our officials to task when necessary. Then there’s the new, upcoming Community Land Trust, (pottstownclt.wordpress.com), who’s mission is to increase homeownership in the downtown neighborhoods by offering affordable housing, safe, attractive neighborhoods and a place to do business. They will beckon the artists, and other creative, energetic people to come here to experience a reasonable cost of living and real neighborhoods where they can ply their talents in visual arts, music, dance, video, cooking, community gardening, etc. Their website includes information about the support they are receiving from the local National Penn Bank. People are lining up behind this notion.
I sense an excitement in the air that is unlike anything I have experienced in Pottstown before. It seems also that there are worthy institutions that have bided their time and watched to see if the people of Pottstown would put their petty differences aside to come together to work toward a sustainable economy. They are beginning to get behind these endeavors with their smarts and their money.
So once again – Welcome. You are heading here at an exciting juncture and we invite you to be part of the good things that are finding their way to Pottstown, you surely must be one of them to be reading and responding to this blog!!
The recent commercial expansion, movetoptown, is helping to resolve some tax burden though not in Pottstown. This shopping center and any future growth in that center benefit Pottsgrove not Pottstown. The Giant in that center used to be part of Pottstown’s tax base but in moving they now benefit another SD. We can only hope that any future plans might revive that area and bring growth to the other side of the taxing lines.
As with many other SDs in the area, there is a shortage of funding. The SDs need to adapt and find ways to reign in the spending while delicately balancing the needs of the students and building a strong base for the future. If a town doesn’t draw people to live and/or invest the SD is the next link in the chain with the power to spur people to ‘come to town’. Forward borrowing or not – something’s gotta give. Options need to be on the table to make long term progress on these matters. Without options, we’ll be forced to remain stagnant and will be left to debate the same issues over and over again – sound familiar?
Situational ethics are not a plan, nor are they anything more than the ‘flavor of the month’. It is my hope that we embrace the need for change, though difficult and uncomfortable. If we can do this then the cycle of self-pity and whining about having the 7th highest taxes might end. Question is can we step away from the fear long enough to make some tough choices and take a few leaps of faith?