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Health & Fitness

Why Does District 113 Shortchange the Taxpayers on Repair and Maintenance

Why does the District shortchange the taxpayer on repair and maintenance?

On November 30, two days after Education First in 113's statement: "Maintenance and repair:  Where District 113 Shortchanges Taxpayers" was posted on TribLocal.com, District 113 posted an article on stating that it plans to increase the maintenance budget to more than $3 million and use reserve funds for one-time projects to address infrastructure deficiencies.

Assistant Superintendent of Finance Barry Bolek says the additional money is to
be earmarked for such basic maintenance as stair tread and roof replacement;
essentially an admission the District has shortchanged maintenance and repair.

Raising the maintenance and repair budget to more than $3 million is an
increase of a few hundred thousand dollars—hardly enough to put a dent in the
$33.6 million spending backlog for maintenance and repair. At this rate it
will take decades to catch up.  It’s time for District 113 to get serious
about creating an adequate annual maintenance budget to catch-up on the
maintenance and repair backlog.

The real question that demands a response is… why does District 113
shortchange the taxpayer on repair and maintenance?

Is it a desire to build reserves in order to garner a AAA rating in order to
pay a lower interest rate on new borrowing? An inability or unwillingness to
cut costs in other areas in order to fund needed maintenance and repairs? A
marketing ploy to show deteriorated conditions in order to more effectively
promote a bloated referendum?

Whatever the reason, under-spending on maintenance & repair in the hope
that the funds will be available in a future referendum is poor fiscal
management. District 113 needs to accept the reality that facilities with a
current replacement value of $255 million require an absolute minimum of
roughly $7.6M per year just to keep up with current needs.

Budgeting “over $3 million” is not enough. Using “some reserve dollars” needs to be more specific when the district is holding roughly $35 million in taxpayer funds.

The district needs to provide the community with a detailed plan demonstrating how it will correct its mistakes in funding maintenance and repair in the future.

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