School Department To Clear 2012 Bills By Week's End

The Woonsocket Budget Commission approved a payment schedule bringing the Woonsocket School Department current on its 2012 bills using $12.4 million in advanced state aid from April, May and June of next year.

With this move, said RI Director of Revenue Rosemary Booth Galoogly, the Budget Commission has bought some time to sort out the city's long-term finances. Among those long-view problems is the School Department's liquidity during the next fiscal year, when they'll be short the state aid advanced to them from next April, May and June.

"Obviously we're going to be thinking about what's going to happen in April," when the school department's state aid will have already been paid to creditors owed from 2012, said Superintendent Giovanna Donoyan.

Blue Cross will receive $2.5 million today, said Finance Director Thomas Bruce. Another 2.3 million will be paid to large vendors owed more than $100,000 for longer than 90 days, said Donoyan.

There are 11 vendors and 85 invoices on that list, including Durham School Services, which the School Department owes $906,000, National Grid and Superior Oil, which the School Department owes about $200,000. Both Superior Oil and Durham agreed to continue providing services for the district while the School Department worked on getting them paid.

"I told Durham they were our yellow angels," Donoyan said.

Most of the rest of the Woonsocket School Department's creditors will be paid by Friday, said Bruce, using up the remaining $7.6 million.

"I really feel bad for the folks that had to wait this long to be paid," Donoyan said, "We've got a great relationship with our vendors. They knew and they believed that something would happen."

The Budget Commission approved the payments, but not without a caveat from Commission Member Dina Dutremble, who said the city should work to make sure there were no outstanding late fees or charges associated with the late bills.

Dutremble asked Donoyan if there were definitely no lingering late fees or charges associated with the late payments. Donoyan said she had ensured that, "To the best of our ability,"

"When you say, 'To the best of our ability," that could mean what?" asked Dutremble. Donoyan said she couldn't guarantee there would be no late charges.

Bruce said he would double check on the late charges question. He said members of his staff would check in with the vendors and determine if any late charges were being waived. He said it was likely a few of them are planning on making some kind of charge for the late payments, and would be reluctant to charge for them.

"From my experience, there are always some businesses that are very reluctant to do that," said Bruce of waiving late fees.

Now, said Donoyan, the city and school department can begin focusing on 2013. "What a great number, huh?," she said.

Bruce said there may still be some outstanding school bills from 2012, since it takes about a month to get bills in from vendors, but as of Friday, "They'll be current in their accounts payable obligations," he said.