This morning, I sent this email to Dr. Bell the school district's Chief Financial Officer. If he replies, I will post it in the comments.
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Dr. Bell,
For a year now I have found a discrepancy between the total amount of Legal Fees in the vendor spends report and the amount reported in the Monthly Financial Report. I have pointed this out to the BOE three times. You may have answered this already and I missed it, but could you tell me why there is a difference between the two amounts every month?
For today's meeting the total amount in the Vendor Spends Report is $4,140,537, the amount reported in the Monthly Financial Report is $3,466,153.
Another concern I have is the school district has spent an average documented (and publicly committed) $487,837.49 each month of FY '14 in legal fees. This is better than FY '13, but not the 50% reduction Superintendent Thurmond promised.
Projecting the average monthly legal fees from the Vendor Spends Report over 12 months the total legal fees expense would be $5,854,050. This would create a budget overage of $1,304,050.
Finally, I am concerned about a repeat of last year's "spending freeze" obtained by not entering invoices until after the start of the next fiscal year. What assurances do taxpayers have that isn't being repeated at this time?
Thank you very much.
-This blog represents only my opinion and does not speak for any other person or organization.
