Comments on: AJC: Fernbank Science Center Back on the Chopping Block

By: DEM

DEM — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 01:56:30 +0000

Good, informative post, thanks for that. I guess all there is to add is to quote the great Mark Twain: “First, God created idiots. That was for practice. Then he created school boards.”

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 22:02:30 +0000

Like some on this thread, I don’t know any of these characters. Instead, I choose to look at the actual numbers….for example, while I cannot speak to what the previous CFO told anyone, I know from looking at the numbers that the DCSS had a surplus of nearly $40 million in the last two years….

“The FY2011 budget planned for significant reductions in state revenue from the QBE funding formula and significant declines in the local property tax digest from which property taxes are derived. Fortunately, the funds the District expected to lose in additional austerity reductions during the year were not lost. Additionally, while the District planned for a 7% decline in the local property tax digest for FY2011, the actual decline was 3.5%. The result is that the District received substantially more revenue than originally planned in FY2011. The additional revenue will add approximately $40 million to the General Operations Fund Balance at the end of FY2011.”

–from http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/budget

The problem is that, instead of putting money aside, the DCSS board members simply restored the bloat….spending every nickel of it. The entire lot is intellectually bankrupt (see their passage of policy amendments just last week allowing the members who DON’T use ALL of their $4k/year travel expense allowance to seek authority from the superintendent to let some OTHER board member use the unused remainder…..really?) and dooms the county with shortsightedness. What is their plan if the county commission says “no” to the increase in taxes? What is their plan for FY 2014? What is their plan to cauterize the wound of legal fees (from both the Heery/Mitchell fiasco and the shiny new pension plan non-payment lawsuit)? What is their plan if they lose one or both?

Anyone remember the Richard Pryor movie “Brewster’s Millions”? Just vote “none of the above” for all of them.

By: irishgator

irishgator — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 21:20:18 +0000

Aaaand, can this be a direct result of the Great 2012 Tax Assessment Fiasco?!?

The complete incompetence from all levels is really becoming apparent to me. I was hoping being a CoD resident would shelter us from their incompetence, but since we live int heir county, the inability to govern properly will affect us.
Time for CoD to become a tail that wags the dog maybe?

By: Allen

Allen — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 20:35:50 +0000

Fernbank Science Center can be saved. They just need to announce that they intend to build a soapbox derby track!

By: Avidfan

Avidfan — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:24:16 +0000

I watched the board meeting last night, and the extra $12 million came about when the CFO explained that he had been in contact with the DeKalb County assessors daily, asking for a concrete number for the tax digest. Although he still does not have a concrete number, the CFO said that he was told the digest will probably fall 9 percent, not the 6 percent they had been basing the budget on. The board members were shocked, shocked, I tell you, when they learned of this further decrease. They decided to postpone their vote on the budget because they feel that they must address cuts globally instead of piecemeal; they did not want to vote on cuts now and then have to come back and make more cuts.

I can’t help but imagine that the new CFO regrets taking this job. It appears that through him, the board discovered that the prior CFO — who I’ve heard is an unqualified, inexperienced family member of a high-up current or former admninistrator — had spent all the reserves and had failed to budget for certain costs, such as millions of dollars in interest payments on bonds and the extraordinary legal fees (which have now been included in the board’s budget and elsewhere). Just last year, the prior CFO and interim superintendent had told the board that the school system was in excellent financial condition.