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Outside the Box --
(originally published in early September 2007 in
News@Norman and the Lincoln Tribune)
Our elected
board members need help!
Both the school board members and the county commissioners labor to find out
the real truth when making decisions, especially financial ones, that affect
YOUR taxes.
Sample #1:
A school administration that spent $131 million last FY ($ 8 million from the
county) overflowed a commissioner’s meeting to first beg, and then threaten, in
an attempt to get an extra $ 50,000 for coaching supplements and $ 350,000 for
additional teacher supplements.
Justified? Probably. But they couldn’t find $ 50k in a $131 MILLION
budget? And why do “teacher’s supplements” also go to administrators?
The school budget is a computer printout that is 4 inches thick.
There is NO flow of funds chart to show which money goes where. No board member
claims to understand it. One member points to a $100,000 item – a roof repair
for an elementary school that been in the budget for 6 years running!
Does the school administration want to make the budget understandable to its
board members? Silly question.
Most of our
school board members are also working full-time. They really have two choices:
put in long extra hours, OR accept what the administration tells them.
So far,
they’ve all done the latter, understandably.
Sample #2: At recent budget sessions the county commissioners
struggled with a decision to dip into the county savings to the tune of $5.6
million this year to avoid raising taxes. If they had but known at the time,
the previous budget called for a $4.7 million raid on savings; BUT the real
number that ended the year was $ 0.5 million! – a far more manageable number.
Will this next year be just as far off? Likely, because the past 4 budget years
have shown similar stories.
Just as with the school board, the county commissioners are at the mercy
of the managed information flow from the administration. In this case, from a
financial manager who consistently under-estimates revenue and over-estimates
expenses. (Better that than the other way around!) But in this instance
it leads to a poor budget based on faulty data..
Is there a solution? How do we
get board members to be better informed?
Hire them some helpers! Here’s a
starting point:
Each board member should get ONE
summer student, at least a college junior, to work on one or two projects
specifically chosen by that board member.
Per member cost -- $6k;
Total cost -- $ 80,000 (1/7 of a cent on YOUR tax bill -- $8 for the
average house).
Better informed elected officials – priceless!
For More Information Contact:
Elect Martin Oakes
Tel: (704) 483-0419
Internet:
martinoakes@charter.net
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