Building & Grounds Budget Exposed

Upon request of a school board member, a review of the recent years budget vs. expenditure for the Buildings & Grounds Department was initiated. It is what we thought it was.

There's a lot of our money stashed in them thar B&G skivvies. Take a look at the budget vs. expenditure reports going back to 2007-08. We've cleaned up the district's PDF/image spreadsheet, but feel free to view the original at this link.

On average, over the past 4 years, the B&G budget has been UNDERspent (OVER budgeted) by nearly $300K. That means that about 15% of the B&G budget must be "fluff".

The district is "projecting" that the Capital budget will be spent down to zero this year IF the "Royal Oaks" secured entrance project is initiated. There is a current balance of about another $35,000 in the general B&G budget which the district insists will be spent down.

What the district DOESN'T say is that if it were'nt for the District Office re-model project costing $165,000 more than anticipated, there would be a $165,000 surplus. In fact, had the board voted against the district office remodel, there would be a surplus of $240,000!

When this money becomes "surplus", oh say about this time of year, that's when administration goes on a shopping spree of sorts. This money gets transfered elsewhere and let the spending begin.

The problem is that this district has to learn how to budget appropriately. And that means no fluff. Right now, the community simply has no trust for the information provided. Every number presented is believed to be inflated or "spun" to tell the story they want to tell.

So...Administration wants to budget over $1.9M for the B&G department for 2011-12? We don't think so!