Sorry, Time's UP!

Seems like the East Brunswick School Board and Administration are more used to the 'go-along-and-get-along' crowd than being asked real questions. This was obvious at tonight's meeting when what could easily be described as a lovefest took place with the nomination and coronation of the newest member of the sorority. [Sorry guys it's not even a fraternity but clearly a sorority.] However the gathered officials were not so eager to address questions in the Comprehensive Annual Financal Report filed by the School District, as required by law, with the NJ Department of Education. This document can be found on the NJ DOE Website, or - - - for your convenience - - - right here. (Just look in the Documents link for the document titled 07-08 CAFR). Here are some of the highlights that brought only stuttering obfuscation from the administration, and not a word from our elected officials until the Board President announced: TIME'S UP. Hmmmm, seems none of the members of the Finance Committee of the Board were knowledgeable of or even interested in the issues raised. All of these points are directly from the CAFR filed by the District. Please do check them for yourself and GET ALL THE FACTS. "Item 20. Subsequent Events On August 6, 2008, the Board entered into a two year lease with Corpus Christie Church to provide facilities for displaced Memorial School students. Monthly lease payments of $60,493 commenced on September 1, 2008, and are being reimbursed to the Board by the insurer. The period for which the insurer will reimburse the Board has not yet been determined." This was reported in October 2008. So the simple question is, now, nearly six months later and not an inch closer to doing anything with Memorial School has the Board determined the period for which the insurer will reimburse us for leasing Corpus Christie School? In a word NO. . . but we'd be happy to tell you about all the trouble with the insurance company and them not being able to decide what they are going to reimburse us for and what repairs . . . . . . blah, blah, blah. It's a simple question: you didn't know in October, do you know now? Apparently not. Also from the CAFR reported by the District and Audited by the hired auditors: On an Operating Basis (Revenue - Expenses = Net Income / Net Loss) a simple concept Child Nutrition LOST $889,751 in 07-08 ETTC LOST $50,219 in 07-08 Adult Ed earned $16, 417 THE COMBNED LOSS FOR THESE THREE ACTIVITIES IS NEARLY $1 MILLION. Despite these losses the district invested $58,000 in building improvements for the ETTC. The same ETTC that lost more than $50,000 the same year. The same ETTC that is located within walking distance of the Superintendent's office and the Board Room. Yet when asked what the $58,000 building improvements were spent on - - - - - nobody knew. Not the board members, not the superintendent, not the board secretary. An obvious question on the ETTC is asking if this is throwing good money after bad. In other areas: We spent $78,000 MORE than budgeted on Legal services and $36,000 MORE than budgeted on Audit fees. One has to wonder why and wonder why there was not a sound from any board members. We spent $70,000 BELOW budget on Communications/ Telephone yet the board and administration OVER budgeted this account for the 08-09 fiscal year. (you can hear a pin drop) We nearly DOUBLED the amount we spent on "General Supplies" for school maintenance by spending $123,000 OVER budget. On the item Other Support Services, Students Extraordinary Purchased Services (consultants) we spent nearly $160,000 OVER budget. With every budget some items will come in below budget and some will come in above budget. This is a normal part of the budget process. However when so many accounts are significantly off budget, one has to wonder how good the budget was to begin with - - or what's really being hidden in the budget. Again from the 07-08 CAFR We are employing a Director of Information Technology a Senior Manager of Network/Telecommunications a Manager of Telecommunications a Senior Manger of Technology / Systems Support at a combined salary that is likely over $300,000/year. Yet on top of all of this well-paid, in-house talent we are being asked to spend another $88,885 on an outside consultant for 'network management' and an additional $17,921 on a separate vendor for 'support for three network switches'. Makes you wonder what the people on staff are doing with all that time on their hands. Again from the 07-08 CAFR 14. Fund Balance Appropriated General Fund - - Of the $15,835,282 General Fund balance at June 30, 2008, $718,944 is reserved for encumbrances; [paying bills that haven't arrived yet] $3,604,457 has been reserved in the Capital Reserve Account [a board vote to transfer this money to another account]; $469,466 has been appropriated and included as anticipated revenue for the year ending June 30,2009; [another board vote to tranfer money into the following year and treat it as a deposit] $8,046,777 is reserved for excess surplus in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-7 ($4,590,734 of the total reserve for excess surplus has been appropriated and included as revenue for the year ending June 30, 2009); [this is where they would like you to believe that this money is being 'returned to the taxpayer'. Did you get a check? Nah, I didn't think so. The game here is that they took the money from you when they really didn't need it and they sneak it into the next year's budget to spend and then tell you they didn't raise your taxes.]; and $2,995,636 is unreserved and undesignated. So what does this all mean? Even AFTER moving $3.6 million to capital reserve (a board vote); AND moving $470,000 to the 08-09 budget as 'revenue' (a board vote); THERE'S STILL $11 MILLION LEFT OVER. What could they have done differently? Instead of raising taxes $3.9 million in the 07-08 budget this board COULD HAVE CUT taxes by $4.1 million and guess what? They STILL would have been able to run the district just as they did in 07-08 AND they STILL could have moved $3.6 million to the Capital Reserve account AND they STILL could have moved $470,000 to the 08-09 budget dressed up as revenue AND they STILL would have had more than $3 MILLION dollars left at the end of the year!! Once again, the taxpayers are being asked to believe that soooooooo much hard work went into crafting a BARE BONES budget full of sacrifices when the reality is that you are STILL NOT BEING TOLD THE WHOLE TRUTH. The single biggest contributor to a zero increase budget this year is NOT cutting waste, is NOT giving up salary increases, is NOT eliminating positions, is NOT meeting efficiency standards. The single biggest contributor to what is being called a zero increase budget is this Board's decision to use $4 million dollars that they took from taxpayers THIS YEAR - - and didn't need - - to spend in NEXT YEAR'S budget and claim they're not raising your taxes. Do you see the game here? We already took it from you last year so we won't take it from you again this year and you'll be amazed at how smart and hard working we are!

Sorry, Time's Up!

Please - - check for yourself - - look at the 07-08 CAFR filed by the District, audited by the District, accepted by the NJ Department of Education.