Shimek shares his take on the bond issuance cost

As chairman of the Finance Committee, Terry Shimek was approached for an explanation on why the $183,000 to issue high school construction bonds will be taken from fund balance, rather than the construction fund.

At issue here is the requirement that ALL costs related to a school construction referendum must be taken from the referendum bonds. The rationale is simple. The community votes to approve a referendum with a CEILING LIMIT. Subsequently, all costs associated with the construction are to come from under that limit. When you shuffle costs out from under the referendum, you are violating law and public trust to say the least.

Here are snippets from Shimek:

• "I voiced opposition to the idea during the discussion."
• "I can't remember if I voted for it or against."
• "I'm not going to argue with you that the money shouldn't come out of fund balance."
• "Phil (Frei) and bond counsel said that we could do this."
• "The board takes the advice from Administration and board counsel. We trust that the information is accurate."
• "We discussed it in public, the STAR reported on the issue. so I don't see it as corruption."

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The board just added another $183,000 that SHOULD have come from construction funds, but instead they're taking it from the "rainy day" fund.

Shimek went on to say that some community and board members are also actively working to do other things that were not budgeted, such as lights on the sports fields. Gee...will we see that taken from fund balance, too? Or where else can they hide those things?

Sleep well, Sun Prairie. You can trust that your school board is hard at work.