Go To School On This Lesson

The Carthage Central School budget appears to be headed for defeat after local town and village officials have raised concerns about the spending increases. The local officials raised their concerns in a letter sent to the School Superintendent Carl Militello and School Board President John Peck a couple of weeks ago and since then there has been claims made and counterclaims raised and a proposed reduction.

The School Superintendent proposed and the Board approved a 9.8% increase in the school tax levy after several years of increasing the levy and several rounds of reassessing for the local property tax payers, making the burden on property tax payers unbearable enough to show signs of budget defeat at the polls.

The letter thus far has resulted in a lot of media attention and awareness but also a private meeting between the school officials and the lawmakers, with school officials subsequently proposing to reduce the levy by $172,000.

There are two points really worth noting. First, if it takes these types of actions to produce reductions in a budget, then the school board needs to be shown the door for passing a budget without asking tough questions. Secondly, for elected town and village officials to get involved in reviewing a school budget looking for reductions is a dangerous precedent setting practice and yet another reason the school board is inept in handling the finances of the district.

"We questioned some of their spending and some budget items, and they'll come back to us with what they decided," Mr. Burto said in an article in the Watertown Daily Times. It should not take elected officials from other taxing entities to step up and question spending, that is not their role, it is the role of the school board and a responsible administration.

The public should be calling the leadership of the school administration into question in this situation as well. Many, faculty included, have described the school superintendent’s leadership style as autocratic, which seldom fosters a productive workplace.

The School Superintendent is irresponsible to claim he cut 21 positions from the school budget, when it is reported from that meeting it was only 4 and the balance of the positions were only requested positions that were not filled.

The Superintendent and school board have also depleted the fund balance. Total fund balance in the 2006-07 school year was $7,209,942 and the school district is projecting only $209,942 by 2009-10 budget year, which means they have spent $7 million dollars in reserve funds since the 2006-07 budget year along with a $4.2 increase in state aid this year.

This issue started with the local official's questioning contradictions in statements by school officials regarding the justification of the increase and cost to taxpayers of new construction occurring at the school in recent years.

This situation bears remembering when voters step in to voting booths to elect school board members. A lesson that a community needs to elect people to school boards that possess some financial background and ability to work with budgets as well as a desire to see kids educated properly.

This is an expensive lesson the Carthage area is learning, all communities should go to school on this lesson.

Carthage voters should reject this budget.