To be fair, SPASD budget guru Phil Frei has been saying that there will be a surplus at the end of this June. On that point we agree. It's the dollar amount where our paths diverge.
The stock market has all kinds of indices on which performance is evaluated. We need and index for the 9 budget focal points we monitor. Let's call it the SP-NEYEN.
We believe that these budget lines are representative lines where the district habitually over-budgets. They serve as nine socks of money.
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| Let's all be like the giving tree, eh? |
At the end of March, we were projecting a surplus of $635 K just from these 9 budget lines alone. At the end of April, we see the surplus as having grown to just over $700K. And think about it. Gas for Heating is virtually done for the calendar year. 83% of the school year is in the books, and we;'ve spent only 2/3 of the budgeted amount. And the two remaining months require very little heating. Similarly for electricity, we have $348K budgeted dollars remaining, and --on average-- we spend $96K per month. Anyway you slice it, we have at least $150K surplus in that line item alone.
So why has Phil Frei repeatedly said that he anticipates a surplus of only $200-300K? What does he know that he's not sharing? Remember the giving tree? Can't we all be like the giving tree? Shouldn't the district be sharing information so the public can understand the budget? Sharing is caring, right?
Or does the district simply prefer to treat community residents like mushrooms.
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