Open Letter to Portsmouth Town Council

By John McDaid | Tuesday, 21 April 2009

To: Pete McIntyre, Huck Little, Dennis Canario, Karen Gleason, Keith Hamilton, Jeff Plumb, Jim Seveney

Subject: Urge rejection of proposal on school fund balance

Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:21:26 -0400

Cc: Robert G. Driscoll, Dave Faucher, Susan Lusi, Richard Carpender, Sylvia Wedge, Michael Buddemeyer, Marge Levesque, Angela Volpocelli, Marilyn King

To the Portsmouth Town Council:
There is no question this is one of the worst budget years our town has ever seen, and while I know the Council must consider all reasonable options, I respectfully request that reducing the appropriation to the schools by $217,454 should not be part of the solution.

First, from a purely economic perspective, you are punishing the schools for good management. Since Dr. Lusi and Ms. Tague came on board and instituted rigorous fiscal controls, the schools have been planning and living to budget. "Taking" the reserve fund in effect punishes them for this good performance, the opposite of what economic theory (and common sense) would advise.

Second, since you are not really "taking" the fund balance but actually reducing the Town appropriation, this reduction will be carried forward to future years under the S3050 cap. Your action today would built in structural reductions that last for years, in a budgetary environment where every dollar reduction means some service or program cut. You have the results of multiple audits, a Superior Court judgement, and a Performance Audit which all, unambiguously, state that the schools are being run efficiently and cost-effectively. Further cuts are not supported by the evidence.

Third, from a community perspective, this cut will produce great harm. There are simply no places in the school budget to recover from a $200K reduction without looking at closing Elmhurst school and moving 4th and 5th graders to the Middle School, or the similarly drastic step of eliminating extracurriculars. The administration and school committee, with great effort, came to you with a budget that preserved both Elmhurst and extracurriculars. If either of these are cut, it will be the result of a decision by the Council. I am certain that this is not something you would want to happen on your watch.

I know you have difficult choices to make, and I know that you will keep foremost in mind the best interests of all Portsmouth's citizens. Thank you very much for your thoughtful consideration.

Best Regards.
-John G. McDaid

Tags: 
Localblogging, 02871, Town Council, School Committee, Budget

Comments

Maddie_C

Tue, 04/21/2009 - 4:19pm

As I gaze into the mists and layout a spread of tarot cards (Rider-Waite deck of course) here is what I see:

The council President, Peter McIntyre, is the one and the very same Peter McIntyre who has never met a school budget he didn't want to cut and has always voted to cut the school department budget at every opportunity every year.

That's one vote to cut the school budget.

Jeff Plumb keeps repeating that he is convinced the people of Portsmouth voted for him because he will reduce spending so that's what he intends to do.

That's two votes to cut the school department budget.

Keith Hamilton will say that the Town Administrator and the Town Finance Director are calling for the council to cut the school budget. He will say he is relying on their guidance and opinion and he will say there is nothing to be done but the regrettable course of cutting the current-year school budget.

That's three votes to cut the school department budget.

The cards are less clear about Karen Gleason. The best I can tell from them reveals that she will speak at length. Some of what she says will seem to make sense and be right. Some of what she says will be incoherent and wrong. She will sympathize with the schools and the parents. She will say how much she cares about keeping school programs, how much she cares about education and that she strongly supports everything we can do for the parents, the schools and the kids. She will then make one of three vague assertions. One, there is secret money hidden in the school budget that she knows can be cut. Two, there is waste in the school budget that she knows about can be cut. Or three, there is fraud, like kids in the schools who don't belong there, that if fixed would save a lot of money. She will be asked to be specific and name the money, waste or fraud. The question will come from either the superintendent or the school committee chair who will be noticably angry that baseless charges like that are being thrown around. She will say she can't say anything more in public. Then she will vote to cut the school department budget.

That's four votes to cut the school department budget.

The cards reveal that Huck Little will join the two Democrats, Jim Seveney and Dennis Canario, in voting against cutting the school department budget because there are already four votes so he can pretend he would have supported the schools if his vote mattered.

These are all just the momentary insights of the tarot. A snapshot in time. People have the power to shape and change these outcomes.

interested observer

Tue, 04/21/2009 - 11:19pm

Maddie,

Great job on reading the cards... I hope you were able to attend the meeting. Let us know what happened... My guess would be that Mr. Carpender sited State law, as he has done in the past, to say you can't have "our" money! Last time I checked "they" are playing with ALL of the people in Portsmouth's money and need to help out the town when needed. Mr. McDaid points out "good" fiscal management within the course of the last few years but fails to point out when the "town" gave over $500,000 mid year a few years back to correct their issues. Please make sure you have all the facts before pontificating. I did like the Karen Gleason section though.

Maddie_C

Tue, 04/21/2009 - 11:22pm

So I guess I'll burn my tarot cards. none of what I wrote above happened. Maybe next time I'll try chicken bones. At least I'll be able to enjoy a chicken that way.

the council voted to table the issue until early May so that they can hear from their lawyer and maybe understand better what the state is going to do. There was a lot of talk about what the council can and can't do under the law with a reference to Rhode Island general laws section 16-7-23 which says of the school department's surplus: "All state and local funds unexpended by the end of the fiscal year of appropriation shall remain a surplus of the school committee and shall not revert to the municipality." That, plus school department attorney Updegrove read a section from the town charter that says the council has the power: "To transfer appropriations within the Town budget (exclusive of the School Department budget) not to exceed the total appropriated." Taken together, that makes it seem like the council can't vote to take the school surplus money, but Town Finance director Faucher said he had spoken to the town solicitor who said they could take the money. The solicitor wasn't there to address it.

So, that uncertainty along with the fact that they'll know more about what the state is doing if they wait a bit more leading to the motion to table.

John, I hope you return to covering these meetings soon because trying to take notes in real time is a huge challenging pain in the elbow. Plus, I'm sure your readers prefer your quality writing to my feeble attemps, and I'm no good at that special wit you have. Also, I stink at reading tarot cards.

interested observer

Tue, 04/21/2009 - 11:31pm

Maddie,

Thanks for the update. Unfortunately the way the state is run we won't have an answer until June 30th at 11:59pm. I think both the School Committee and Town Council need to sit down together and hash out this issue. I will state again they are playing with all of the towns peoples money and need to act accordingly. Sorry to hear about the writers cramp or elbow.

John McDaid

Wed, 04/22/2009 - 1:11am

Hi...
Thank you, thank you, thank you, one and all, for both the pontificating and the coverage.

Especially Maddie_C, who provided both insight and timely reporting. I normally wouldn't have missed an event like tonight, and I deeply appreciate your stepping up. Thank you.

Best Regards.
-j