Superintendent's Letter 'Inappropriate, Inaccurate, Incomplete': Letter

Wilmette resident Kathy Myalls shared with Patch a letter she penned to District 39 Superintendent Dr. Ray Lechner regarding his assertion that the District would be unable to balance future budgets should a property tax freeze be enacted.

The following was written and submitted by Kathy Myalls.

Dear Dr. Lechner,

I received your District-wide e-mail on Thursday in which you opined that if property taxes are frozen, as the Governor is proposing as part of his reform agenda, District 39 will not be able to balance its budget. Sadly, I don’t have the e-mail addresses of everyone in the District as you do, so I am sending this letter to the local press hoping to bring some balance to the discussion, especially since you have not responded to the letter I sent directly to you and Board.

I found your letter to the District to be inappropriate, inaccurate, and incomplete, and as a resident and a parent, I was incredibly disappointed you sent it.

First, you neglected to mention any of the reasons the property tax freeze is being proposed, and misrepresented the district’s options if taxes are frozen. It appears to me (and others) that your intent is to try to rally support for continued property tax increases without assuming accountability for managing the District’s expenses within those parameters over which the District has control.

Second, you state we have union contracts with salary increases tied to the CPI, but neglected to mention that those contracts are up for re-negotiation in 2016, and future contracts do not have to contain that provision. And of course when those contracts are renegotiated, all compensation components would be on the table.

Third, you state that these contracts comprise 75% of the District’s budget, but neglect to discuss any part of the other 25%. One quick-to-mind example of that remaining 25% is the learning commons we are building in our schools to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars. These are nice if we can afford them, but your letter makes it clear we cannot, unless the taxpayers take yet another hit. If revenues are frozen, wouldn’t one option be to postpone those until the freeze ends? Instead of acting like your hands are tied, I believe it is your responsibility to manage your expenses within your revenue, instead of threatening to burden the District with an unbalanced budget. It is your job to balance it. And I find it troubling to say the least that you offer no solutions to the possible “problem” of a property tax freeze. And I can tell you that many of us in Wilmette and the surrounding communities don’t actually view that as a problem.

Fourth, you imply that a voter referendum for tax increases is somehow an impediment to a balanced budget. I understand why it might seem easier for you to let our taxes keep increasing without giving us the choice about whether to pay more, but as both a taxpayer and a parent, I believe I am entitled to that input, and I believe that if you cannot balance the budget with the revenue that we provide, you owe us a full explanation of why you need more. A referendum would require you to justify the increase and give the community choices we apparently do not currently have.

Finally, and most significantly, you did not mention what percentage of the total District budget is impacted by the projected revenue increases that will not come if taxes are frozen. Some context to that $730,000 number would have been helpful. I personally was shocked to find out that your doomsday tone is about approximately 1% of the District budget.

So instead of complaining that the sky is falling, I think you owed it to the community to discuss the fact that a property tax freeze would change the District’s projected revenue, and list solutions, instead of threatening the community with fiscal failure.

If you are going to write opinion pieces, I would appreciate it if you would do so on the editorial pages of the local newspapers, rather than using your pulpit as our Superintendent to send a letter to all parents pretending you have no ability to balance the budget if Springfield decides to give the 2nd highest property taxpayers a temporary reprieve. Your letter should have been complete, or you should not have sent it.

If the School Board approved of your sending this e-mail, then they are as culpable as you for misrepresenting the current discussion in Springfield in the interest of intimidating parents in the district. And if that is the case, I hope that there will be some effort to correct the impression you all left that unless the homeowners in the District continue to take it on the chin, the Board and the Superintendent will just throw up their collective hands and give up.

Kathy Myalls
Wilmette