A New Year Brings More Political Cow Pies

I was in the process of preparing an analysis of the Novermber 2011 Barnegat municipal elections when I read the 01-11-12 Barnegat Patch article by Graelyn Brashear titled  

It immediately attracted my attention. It reminded me of why I am happy to be away from  silly Barnegat politics. I decided to save my election analysis for my next blog and comment on this article.  

The only time the township committee has an official role with board of education business is when a budget fails. They are separate entities with different functions and set of rules. The township and board of education should cooperate but they should not involve themselves with the internal workings of the other. Each body has elected officials.They must face the public and defend their decisions. The board of education budget is voted  on by the people. This means it has more legitimacy than any other budget as it is the only budget in the state that people directly vote on.

A perfect example of political grandstanding is the call by the township committee for the board of election to give surplus back to taxpayers. They make this call looking for political credit when it occurs. What they do not tell you is that the board of education BY LAW must return all surplus over 2 percent back to the taxpayers. If the township committee said nothing this would be returned to the townspeople. Their call for the return of surplus is the same as calling for the sun to rise in the night and taking credit for it when it does in the morning.

The board has an annual audit. I assume, from the article, the township committee used this audit to make their claims. They then say the board kept secrets. The audit is designed to ensure the board follows the rules of the department of education and to make it public. The township used one of the tools the state uses to keep this information from being a secret to say it was kept secret.  

This is a logical contradiction. The board of education is more accountable to the state and the people then the township committee is. They have treasurer reports that reconcile the books and other reports providing ongoing financial information that are presented regularly to the board and open to the public. You may know significantly more financial information concerning the Barnegat Board of Education on the web than you may concerning township committee activities.Key features of contracts for key personnel are easily accessible on the state web site.  None of this exist for the township committee. The township committee does not meet the standards of openness that the board of education does. The township committee says the board is hiding information. If the board of education is hiding information, what is the township committee hiding as they disclose less information via the web then the board of education does? This is the same as claiming their neighbor does not have enough windows while their neighbor has more windows then they do.

I have not seen the board of education audit. I do not know what is in it. There is a section of the audit where the auditor lists violations of state rules. The article does not list any violation of state rules. I assume the township committee would use any violations  in their press conference so I assume non exists. This is where any “hiding” of information would be exposed. The arguments made by the township committee would fall under a violation of state rules and the auditors would call for remedial action in their report. This protects the public and would be used in school board elections to challenge the credibility of the candidates and budget.

The following comments are financial in nature. It is irresponsible for any financially trained professional to use a $106,271 surplus as a baseline. The current budget calls for close to a $47,000,000 operating budget. A $106,271 surplus is like a family with a $50,000  annual income having about $114 in total savings. This is a dangerously low surplus and any responsible financial manager would call for an increase. Any financial manager criticizing a significantly large increase from this level needs to find another profession.

The purpose of this blog is not to defend the board of education. I served on it many years and I often disagree with the things I see them do. This is about the silly irresponsible political games that destroy the credibility of both bodies. I write to criticize political grandstanding that hurts both parties. The township committee should focus on working with the board of education to minimize expenses rather then acting like an adolescent child looking to criticize anothers looks to increase their own stature. This is my hope but I also hope the temperature in winter does not fall below 40 degrees. I think both have the same chance of occurring. This is why I am happy to be away from it.