How To Be A BOE Member During a Public Discussion of the Budget.

Mar 16, 20235 Comments

What a Discussion on the Budget Should Sound Like

During this clip, Dr. Foregger asks pointed and relevant questions of the Business Administrator, who, for the most part, demonstrated a strong recall of the reasoning behind the numbers with a few notable exceptions.

Legal Costs are skyrocketing, and the Business Administrator does everything she can not to mention the specific reasons why (ethics complaints, improper OPRA redactions). She also brings up items that the District insurance can cover- a point I bring up later in the meeting. If you fast forward to the end of the meeting, you will hear her answer my questions. In that portion of the meeting, she implies that the District will sometimes refuse to accept the attorney covered by their insurer and pay out of pocket for an Attorney they prefer. Who might that be? Her answers have many other issues, but that will be for another article.

Interest Rates – Dr. Foregger makes an excellent point that the budget may not be taking into account higher interest rates, and the Business Administrator indicates she is not using the current rates in her estimates, thereby under-projecting potential revenue that may help in keeping the tax rate down and reduce the impact on staffing. In fact, at another point in the meeting, in response to Dr. Foregger’s questions, the auditor agreed the District could invest in Treasury bills whose rates can easily be found online.

Cost Per Pupil –If Dr. Foregger were going to say what I thought he would say before being cut off by Ms. Penna – it would have been a stake through the heart on the budget. Only BOE Members have seen the entire budget, but I suspect there will be some discussion at the next meeting on this item. Ms. Penna thinks 20 minutes for a BOE Member who has had only a few days to thoroughly review a massive 100+ page budget proposing staffing cuts and a tax increase is too long.

Weird Omissions – Dr. Foregger referenced a line item on his document that went up by 2854% from the prior year (Line 52420-General Supplies-Student Transportation)- why would a prior year comparison illustrating all variances be omitted from the presentation by the Business Administrator to the public?

Are you starting to wonder why Angela Penna chose herself to be on the finance committee instead of Dr. Foregger (who has a Ph.D. in Maths)?

You should be.

There are other gems, but allowing folks to watch the video themselves is best. The Business Administrator did a far better job this year with the presentation than last year, but to be fair, that’s not saying much.