Great news! The Board of Education found $4,142,500! Are they going to use it to restore full-time counselors at all schools and decrease the counselor to student ratio which is the worst in the state? No! They are going to spend that found money on 12.7 acres of land that they decided they "had" to have. (They already have shoes to match.)
Did the BOE have a choice? Absolutely! They had a choice of 7 properties. But, they picked the one that was going to be the most expensive to obtain. They would first have to have the property condemned in a legal proceeding. And, then, they would have to pay the owner for the property. Of the 7 properties reviewed, this property was rated as the most expensive.
The BOE offered $2,300,000 for the property.
But, they had to pay $4,142,500 to get the land through condemnation.
Fortunately, the BOE has lots of cash sitting around. No worries. No extra counselors, but no worries on buying land.
Seems to be consistent with the rest of their budgeting efforts. Their original offer was about half of the actual price.
ReplyDeleteThat's why they sued! When the owner wouldn't accept their offer they sued! And now they are paying double! Ha! The BOE showed them.
DeleteGeniuses.
Does anyone have access to the Petition for Condemnation? I can't find it online.
ReplyDeleteDid some of that money go to Montgomery County? I noticed the County, represented by the County Attorney's office, was a defendant in the lawsuit. That would be high comedy. MCPS paying the County to in turn fund MCPS to pay the Philip's estate the amount of the condemnation.
ReplyDeleteThey gave away a building. Peary High School. They told the State that the building had been demolished when it hadn't. They did that so that the State would not put a value on the building. Only the land was assigned any value.
ReplyDeleteAn entire High School was given away for free. You can thank Governor Martin O'Malley for that! He made sure that when the public showed up in Annapolis to speak against this give away they were LOCKED OUT of the hearing room. Kept out by armed guards no less. And, the video show the Governor calling out the names of the people that couldn't enter the room.
Yes, it's Spiro Agnew, the Next Generation. We give away entire high school buildings for free and then pay exorbitant sums for land that we could get for free.