To the Editor:
It's finally here — the augur of the rites of spring — the greatest show on earth, well no, not the circus, well maybe, but I was thinking of the final budget vote due this week. During the next several days we will set the measures of funding to the city by the City Council. During this time period the City Council and School Board will move money, find money, to satisfy these irresponsible financial actions of the past year. Add and Delete are your clue words in this process and with no chance of a quick fix, the group will be hard pressed to reconcile the spending spree which is about to erupt.
You know about the infrastructure issue due to a total lack of school maintenance for as long as anyone can remember. I am not sure if it was the leaking roof, the buckets the closet classrooms, the lack of HVAC in the summer or was it the several evacuations of Hammond this winter due to gas leaks in the school that led to the city's epiphany to begin this project. What was it going to take for the city to do this maintenance, a disaster? I must update you on the current figures for infrastructure repair: total cost $716.2 million, $441 million for modernization, $144 million for capacity modernization and hallelujah $130.6 million for maintenance. This is an astonishing example of gross mismanagement — no it’s more than that — it's criminal negligence depriving these children of a chance at advancement at the expense of the city's developer constituents. Who is responsible? Who holds the money? The council and school board are responsible.
As word got out that things were rapidly plummeting, the School Board chair decided it would be better not to use numbers in this budget process. No really it was suggested that the public not be allowed to see the numbers attached to these projects and therefore there would be no estimates and no cost overruns. How do you make a budget without numbers? This is a blatant attempt by the School Board to hide numbers in order to fund their pet projects — may I refer you to the tennis lights at T.C. Williams, the $1.2 million deception.
You are most likely aware that there are debt ratios established by the City Council in 1987 to ensure the long term affordability and sustainability of the CIP budget, a means of forced constraint. Current ratios are all above target and just below limit levels. The additional debt generated by the CIP budget complete with a $712 million infrastructure price tag would blow through these ratios jeopardizing our bond rating and ballooning our debt and require a complete reassessment of our ratios.
As I sat through the meetings last week there was no happiness in council , school board nor in citizen land, just blank stares. Our representatives have failed us again — failed one of their most important constituents the children who attend our schools. The city talks about revenue growth and attracting business; I maintain that if the schools are excellent and achievement-oriented, blessed with modern infrastructure, businesses will follow and prosperity will flow. I believe a change in leadership is needed. I have a strong sense that the citizenry recognizes this as well .
William Goff
Alexandria