We don't need an outside audit, why Mary? UPDATED 100117

Pursuant Ketchum Consulting Services Agreement 

Pursuant Ketchum invoices from a RTK 

Retained Counsel Fees Schedule according to PK Consulting Services Agreement totaling $184,000. (Travel and Strategic Creative Services not included.)

Missing receipts totaling $54,931. Were they paid from other funds? Was the contract terminated? Is this another example of award winning Jan Klein's creative financing?

I am not an accountant. In fact, I am terrible at numbers. So how was this approved by Maher Duessel, the outside auditing firm that MTLSD has employed for over twenty five years?

Lebo Citizens Readers, I still have time for a Flashback Friday. Please read Dear Mt. Lebanon Neighbor:

Update October 1, 2017 6:30 PM Unless there are missing receipts, the invoices for travel total $17,560.05. The cap was $21,000.

Also, unanswered emails to the school board.

From: egillen476@aol.com [mailto:egillen476@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2017 7:20 PM
To: schoolboard@mtlsd.net
Subject: Second Request

Dr. Strotmeyer,

OK, I lied. This is my first request. I was just saving myself the time to send the usual second request email.

I want to thank you, Dr. Strotmeyer, for being so prompt with your last response. Since you seem to be the only responsive school board director, i am addressing this to you.

From my blog:

Pursuant Ketchum Consulting Services Agreement 
Pursuant Ketchum invoices from a RTK 
Retained Counsel Fees Schedule according to PK Consulting Services Agreement totaling $184,000. (Travel and Strategic Creative Services not included.)

Missing receipts totaling $54,931. Were they paid from other funds? Was the contract terminated? Is this another example of award winning Jan Klein's creative financing? Would you be able to answer my questions?

Thanks in advance. 

Elaine Gillen

www.lebocitizens.blogspot.com

***************

From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: TSteinhauer <TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net>; egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: schoolboard <schoolboard@mtlsd.net>
Sent: Sun, Oct 1, 2017 3:39 pm
Subject: Re: CC web page update or lack of

Tim,

The link to the exercise in futility is now working again. I watched it again. Not only were you "happy to put it on the internet," but Mary Birks told Mrs. Bongiorno that "We will put it on the Capital Campaign Website."

When?

Elaine Gillen

www.lebocitizens.blogspot.com

-----Original Message-----
From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: TSteinhauer <TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net>
Cc: schoolboard <schoolboard@mtlsd.net>
Sent: Sun, Oct 1, 2017 12:39 pm
Subject: CC web page update or lack of

Where is the 2 page report that I have requested? Capital Campaign Financial Report through August 31, 2017 (2 pages) It is not on the Capital Campaign web page.

Where is the list that you offered to post FOUR TIMES to Paula Bongiorno? Watch this exercise in futility. Unfortunately, the clip has been removed. Did you have something to do with that?

Elaine Gillen

www.lebocitizens.blogspot.com

Bill Matthews | MTLSD 2017-2018 Budget

Many of you may have seen Bill Matthews' letter to the school board.

Members of the Board:

First, thank you to the Board Members who pressed the Administration to hold the line on property taxes this year.  I have a pretty good idea of who you is, and who you isn’t.

Secondly, this is really not such a monumental feat, nor deserving of all the accolades that no doubt will be passed around to Dr. Steinhauer and his team.  We have been over taxed for years and when you combine this with all the funds being generated from bond refinancing and other sources, the District remains in a very strong financial position.  With the cash-on-hand, there is really no need to pad the surplus.

Please see the General Fund Budget summary attached.  Since Dr. Steinhauer took the reins, the District has landed under the Expenditure Budget (excluding Transfers to Debt Service and the Capital Fund) by more than $7 million.  The Revenue Budget has been essentially on the money.  

Please note, the reason Debt Service and Capital Fund transfers are excluded from my analysis is that the Capital Fund transfers are made from available General Fund surplus and very often are not reflected in the approved budget number.  Consequently, transfers may appear as a budget impairment, which could ultimately be misinterpreted as a “miss”.

Lastly, it sure would be nice going into finalizing the budget to know how the Administration forecasts the current year spend.  We used to routinely see forecasts similar to the attached. Just because the Audit & Finance Committee was disbanded, there is no reason another outlet for the information could not be employed (like the website). 

Fiscal transparency has been a general disappointment under the Steinhauer Administration.

Best regards,

Bill

cc: Mt. Lebanon Community

MTLSD Budget Analysis 05-07-17

MTLSD 2011-2018 Budget Summary

MTLSD 2013-2014 Year End Analysis 05-07-17

There's something MORE about Mary. And Timmy.

Mt. Lebanon resident, Bill Matthews sent the following email to the school board. His attached summary documents untrue statements made by Mary Birks and the Superintendent.

From:	Bill Matthews
To:	schoolboard <schoolboard@mtlsd.net>
Subject:	Board Meeting Comments
Date:	Sun, Mar 26, 2017 8:36 pm
Attachments:	MTLSD-Budget-Comments-03-26-17.pdf (2050K)

---

Members of the MTLSD School Board:

Please find attached a summary (with documentation) of my remarks during last week's Board meeting.

As I indicated at the meeting, the issues continue to fall into one of three buckets: Transparency, Accuracy and Employing the Best Available Information.

Ever since Superintendent Allison left the District, we have taken steps backwards in each of these areas.

Best,

Bill Matthews

cc: Mt. Lebanon Residents

Presenting the 2017-2018 Fake Budget

At one time, Janice Klein referred to the preliminary budget as "the fake budget." Jan Klein, whose title changed from Finance Director to Director of Business explained that the purpose of the preliminary budget is to be able to apply for exceptions to the Index limitation on real estate tax rates. I would like to present Jan Klein's 2017-2018 Fake Budget.

The Post-Gazette reports that according to the "preliminary" budget, our taxes should increase by 0.83 mills to 24.76 mills. Mt. Lebanon begins work on school budget

Lebo Citizen readers might want to do a search for "fake budget" on this blog. Read about how Mt. Lebanon resident Bill Matthews demonstrates to the Department of Education how the District annually submits a fake preliminary budget. Bill and I have attended District budget meetings, where we were both treated rudely. The audios of those meetings are still available on lebocitizens.com. For obvious reasons, those meetings have been discontinued.

For those of you who are new to this process, this is usually when the school board directors like to speak in terms of lattes or pizzas. Just cut back on buying lattes, we were instructed. From 2012, we were told about a $30 million fundraising campaign. Spin Class 101 We are still in the quiet phase of the now $6 million Century of Excellence Campaign. I would love to know how much is in that account. Maybe it will show up in the fake Final Budget.

Mt. Lebanon School District not saving with bond refinancing

Mt. Lebanon School District not saving with bond refinancing

Only government can borrow more money and tout it as a “savings.” At this minute, our Mt. Lebanon School District is seriously pondering “saving” taxpayers money by borrowing an additional $3.9 million in concert with a bond refinancing. The plan under consideration will enable the district to take advantage of favorable interest rates on the outstanding principal of a 2005 bond issue, $52,155,000, AND receive an additional $3.9 million for no specified purpose. Total borrowing about $56 million. The original 2005 par value was $52,980,000.

The principal outstanding is a good place to start a discussion. Based on the principal and interest structure the district adopted in 2005, only $825,000 (1.6 percent) of the principal has been paid off in nine years, all the while, millions of dollars in debt service has flowed from taxpayers.

This extraordinary interest expense results from a financing strategy known as bond “wrapping,” which permitted the district to have its money up front, defer principal payments into the future and minimize the tax burden in the moment. In the long run however, it cost taxpayers millions in unnecessary interest expense. This is a fine example of the costs associated with “kicking the can down the road.”

As to the additional $3.9 million under consideration, the district’s financial advisor has described the scenario as refinancing a home and taking equity out at closing (cash).

No. It is like paying off a loan with an even bigger loan. The district has no equity position … only OPM (Other People’s Money) with which to work.

There are options to reduce the tax burden with this refinancing, however to no one’s surprise, these options have failed to garner majority support. Taxpayers are due relief, considering the millions of dollars that have already been squandered away on interest expense.

Bill Matthews
Mt. Lebanon

"We deserve better."

Elaine:

This morning’s PG includes an article on the upgraded High School. A $110 million upgrade at Mt. Lebanon High School

An issue that caught my eye is the continued cadence from the District that this year’s anticipated tax increase is to due solely to rising contributions to the retirement system (PSERS). 

 
In the article, the District is attributed with the following: “…this year all of the projected tax hike will go to pension increases…”

Simple math demonstrates this mantra is disingenuous, at best. The local burden for PSERS is only approximately 40% of the total expenditures increase projected to fall on Mt. Lebanon taxpayers*. 

 
In fact, if all other increasing expenses (excluding debt service) remained flat, we would not require a tax increase, in spite of the mandatory PSERS increase. I fully recognize this not reality, but neither is the District’s characterization.

We deserve better.

Bill Matthews

*The State’s PSERS contribution and related expense is excluded from this calculation.

Letter to the Editor from Bill Matthews

Elaine:

There is no magic bullet for the school district's budget situation. However, it would be a start to see the Board and Administration fully appreciate the fact that Real Estate Tax Revenue and General Fund Total Expenditures have outpaced the growth of family incomes in our Community, and that this is not a sustainable state of affairs.

The Administration has footnoted its March 2, 2015 budget summary with references to the proposed millage increases attributed to PSERS and High School Debt ... as if this matters. In reality, it matters little to residents challenged with balancing their family budget with an ever-increasing real estate tax bill.

What does matter is that Total Expenditures in the General Fund are projected to have risen 175% since 2001-2002, compared to Earned Income Tax Revenue (which is a proxy for family income) having only risen 155% over the same time period.

Bill Matthews

Mt. Lebanon School District General Fund Budget Summary

How the School District CHEATS Mt. Lebanon taxpayers

While the focus here has been primarily directed toward the municipality's deer, our school district has been up to their old tricks preparing the legally required Preliminary Budget, a.k.a. "fake budget."

Mt. Lebanon resident and Lebo Citizens reader, William Matthews demonstrates to the Department of Education how the District annually submits a fake preliminary budget when the “PDE will only approve referendum exceptions if the school district demonstrates a need for exceptions by adopting a balanced preliminary budget that contains a tax rate increase in excess of the school district’s index.” In his letters, Bill asks the PDE to perform a detailed review of our preliminary budget and reject the Mt. Lebanon School District 2015-2016 Preliminary Budget.

Yesterday, I received the following email from Bill:

Dear friends and neighbors. 

The School District's approach in preparing its Preliminary Budget, continues to disappoint. 

The attached letters have been sent to our Superintendent and School Board, and I am sharing with you this afternoon. 

Feel free to share with other friends and neighbors. 

Best regards, 

Bill

From: Bill Matthews
To: tsteinhauer <tsteinhauer@mtlsd.net>
Cc: schoolboard <schoolboard@mtlsd.net>; jklein <jklein@mtlsd.net>; tpeterson <tpeterson@tuckerlaw.com>
Sent: Wed, Feb 11, 2015 6:11 pm

Subject: Preliminary Budget - Mt. Lebanon School District.
Dr. Steinhauer:

I submitted the attached letters to PDE this week, outlining some of my thoughts on our Preliminary Budgets.

Take care,

Bill


Mt. Lebanon School District/Pennsylvania Department of Education Preliminary Budget 02.08.15  letter
[Editor's note: Normally, the school board should have been meeting tonight, but the January 12, 2015 agenda shows: Preliminary Budget - Act 1 of 2006 requires the Board approve a Preliminary Budget on the State form before February 18, 2015. Since the Board’s February meeting is after that date, we are presenting the budget for approval in January.
The School Board also met on February 9, 2015.]


Mt. Lebanon School District/Pennsylvania Department of Education Preliminary Budget 02.09.15 letter

6-1 in favor of .54 mill increase UPDATED

I didn't go to the meeting, but I did hear the news that Scott Goldman was the only school board director to vote against the budget. Ed Kubit and Bill Cooper were absent. (Note: Ed Kubit missed the 10.5% increase in 2010.)

School Board Approves Final Budget for 2014-15 School Year May 19, 2014  At the May 19, 2014 School Board meeting the Board approved a Final Budget for the 2014-2015 School Year in the amount of $87,924,509 setting the millage rate at 23.15 mills, a .54 mill increase over the 2013-2014 millage rate with the use of $750,000 of the Fund Balance to balance revenues with expenditures.

Bill Matthews was chewed out again. Larry Lebowitz questioned Bill's numbers. After all, Jan Klein won that damn award.

The Mt. Lebanon School District received the Association of School Business Officials International’s Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting award for having met or exceeded the program’s high standards for financial reporting and accountability for the 2013 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. This is the 29th year the District has been honored with this prestigious award.

A little background on this. We pay for this award. As long as all the parts of the report are submitted, you win the award. Table of contents? Check. Meet the criteria and you win! So double counting is permitted.

Of course, Elaine Cappucci said that they were so fiscally responsible that they eliminated the Assistant Superintendent for the Primary Schools. Then it was announced that Dr. Marybeth Irvin, the new principal at Lincoln who had coffee with Dr. Steinhauer according to Timmy's Traveling Twitter Tweets on the first day of school, was appointed as the new Assistant Superintendent for the Primary Schools.

Oh, big news! "The Grievance" was settled. It only cost the District $60,000! They have agreed to hire permanent subs at the appropriate step.

The podcast to tonight's meeting is available here.

Update May 20, 2014 9:07 AM From Bill Matthews:

Last night I provided the Board with the above chart, demonstrating that in eight of the last nine years the budget has been under budget on the expenditure side by almost $1,000,000 per year, on average. And once again, the Board “baked in” these surpluses from days of yore, raising taxes to cover these ghost expenses, ultimately resulting in an unnecessary and unwarranted tax increase.

Three things (at least) are at play that makes it difficult to work with the Board on budget issues:


1) Their obsequiousness to the Administration’s financial information.
2) Their obsequiousness to the Administration’s financial information.
3) Their obsequiousness to the Administration’s financial information.


While the budget information available to the public is quite limited, albeit often “award” winning, it is far from error free. Please see these pages from the recent annual budget books, where over three years the revenue and expenditure information is repeated, repeated and repeated, as if to make a point.

Dear Mt. Lebanon Neighbor:

Dear Mt. Lebanon Neighbor:

Attached is a letter I sent to our School Board expressing my concern with the 0.54 mill tax increase recommended by Dr. Steinhauer.

Mt. Lebanon School District has historically prepared budgets that produce significant (and at times substantial) surpluses, and yet continues to raise our taxes.

Enough is enough.

In addition to my letter, I have attached a file, which includes several years of budget summaries with actual, audited results back to the 2002-2003 school year. These historical records support my observation of year-over-year budget surpluses.

It is my belief, next year’s increase could easily be limited to 0.30 mills, if not lower; and most importantly, without impacting a single educational program.

It appears next Monday, May 19, our Board intends to approve yet another unnecessary tax increase. If, after reviewing this information, you believe this unwarranted tax increase deserves further review, please contact our School Board.

Our School Board may be contacted by e-mail using this address: schoolboard@mtlsd.net

Please feel free to forward this e-mail and attachments to friends and neighbors who may be concerned, as I am, with our ever growing and unsustainable tax burden.

Regards,

Bill Matthews

Once, twice, three times a lady...

For those of you who are new to this, it takes at least 2-3 emails to our finance director, before your question gets answered. Here is an example.

From: Mr. Concerned Resident
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 11:36 AM
To: Jan Klein
Subject: double counting

Ms. Klein,
At Tuesday’s school board meeting a Mt. Lebanon taxpayer, Bill Matthews, discussed what he felt was double counting properties that were currently under appeal and as a result of this there was a $36 million difference.
Was Mr. Matthews accurate in his thinking?
I would like to obtain the documents that show the $214 pertaining to current appeals and compare for myself to see if these properties were double counted. Do I need a right to know request to obtain these documents?
Thank you,

Concerned Resident
Mt. Lebanon, PA

****

From: Jan Klein [mailto:JKlein@mtlsd.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 11:46 AM
To: Mr. Concerned Resident
Cc: Dr. Timothy Steinhauer
Subject: RE: double counting

Mr. Concerned Resident

The numbers Mr Mathews referenced are county reports and you may obtain them directly from the county. We also have copies which you may request through RTK. The forms are on our website.

Note that the reports were used to ESTIMATE potential reductions in assessment in a proposed budget document. Those numbers and other projections of revenue change frequently as updated information becomes available and will change again before our final budget is approved by the Board next month.

Respectfully,

Jan

Janice Klein
Director of Business
Mt. Lebanon School District
7 Horsman Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15228

412-344-2098 (office)
412-559-9310 (cell)

I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom - Anatole France

From: Mr. Concerned Resident
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 12:05 PM
To: Jan Klein
Cc: Dr. Timothy Steinhauer
Subject: RE: double counting

Jan,

Thank you for your reply, I appreciate the information.

With your explanation on estimates which I know will fluctuate between now and then, are you answering my question as to whether Mr. Matthews was accurate in his statements that there was evidence of double counting of properties that were in the appeal process?

Let me ask again…was Mr. Matthews accurate in his thinking and numbers by coming to a conclusion that double counting of properties currently under appeal existed when Mt. Lebanon created their current budget?

Thank you Jan,

C.R.

From: Jan Klein [mailto:JKlein@mtlsd.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 3:05 PM
To: Mr. Concerned Resident
Cc: Dr. Timothy Steinhauer
Subject: RE: double counting

I do not verify Mr Mathews’ numbers.

Respectfully,

Jan

Janice Klein
Director of Business
Mt. Lebanon School District
7 Horsman Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15228

412-344-2098 (office)
412-559-9310 (cell)

I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom - Anatole France

$36 million in double counting UPDATED 3X

Last night, Bill Matthews hit one out of the ball park. He has identified $36 million in double counting in the budget. The following combines Bill's comments in the beginning of the meeting and at the end of the meeting. Bill identified specific Board of Viewers cases which are duplicates. PLEASE take the time to listen to his comments.




Update April 16, 2014 2:51 PM The following update is from Bill Matthews:

The “double counting” relates to the properties in our community that are currently under appeal with the County. Recently, Dr. Steinhauer reported to the board and our community that these properties totaled about $214 million. The district assumes this collective valuation may be reduced by 20% by the time each of these cases reaches final adjudication. Appropriately, the district makes an allowance for successful appeals in preparing its annual budget.

Upon request, the district provided reports detailing the $214 million – by property. In the first 2 minutes of my review, I concluded there were cases counted twice by the district, and additionally, there were several individual properties with two cases pending, effectively resulting in double counting (counting the property valuation twice, once for each pending appeal).

My deduction is that at the point in time of the district’s calculation, the collective value of properties under appeal was $178 million; $36 million less what Dr. Steinhauer reported.

Because an allowance is only made for the value of successful appeals (20%) not the entire $36 million, about $7.3 million in additional property valuation may be included in our community tax base for budget purposes. This $7.3 million represents about $164 thousand in ultimate tax revenue not currently included in the district’s proposed budget.

In other words, adding back the $164 thousand in anticipated revenue would reduce the millage increase required to balance the budget from the proposed .54 mills to .48 mills; a reduction of more than 10%.

Update April 17, 2014 9:34 AM Elaine Cappucci asks Jan Klein about the budget and double counting prior to the Proposed Budget vote on April 15, 2014.




Update April 17, 2014 10:57 AM The entire April 15, 2014 School Board Meeting podcast is available on my website, Lebo Citizens.

Observation - 2013 General Election

Letter To The Editor

-submitted by Bill Matthews


Re: Observation - 2013 General Election

Turnout for this election was again low, 22.5%. However, this is not the observation I find most interesting. 

About one third of the voters making time to vote, did not vote for any school board candidate. Further, more than one than one third of the total votes available to residents and taxpayers actually voting, were not cast for any school board candidate; remarkable to me.

Lebo needs to demonstrate fiscal responsibility

Mt. Lebanon resident and Lebo Citizens reader, Bill Matthews submitted a letter to the editor of The Almanac. Here is the link to his letter. The letter is published below in its entirety.

Lebo needs to demonstrate fiscal responsibility

Mt. Lebanon School District is embarking on the second bond issue for our high school renovation. As currently planned, the financing will cost more than it should for three reasons: 1: The renovation is too big and expensive. 2: The financing plan is to �wrap� the bonds. 3: The plan includes capitalizing interest in the early years.

It will not change anything now to discuss the size and scope of the project; but we should never lose sight of the fact that our board, when they thought there was room in the budget, added amenities not recommended in the space plan prepared by our former superintendent, yet did not delete these upgrades when the initial building bids burst our bubble.

One could see the proposed bond wrapping coming years ago. Nevertheless, its primary purpose is not to soften the millage impact as alluded to by the board. The bonds are being phased in to provide for actual future millage increases up to Act 1 limitations. Between the demands of this financing, and normal operations, we can anticipate experiencing maximum allowable millage increases for the next few years.

The capitalized interest is, however, an opportunity to demonstrate some respect for Mt. Lebanon residents and taxpayers. The plan includes about two million dollars in borrowed money to fill out the interest expense in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The administration has acknowledged it has three million dollars that could be used to reduce the total borrowing, to which the board turned a deaf ear.

Here is a suggestion, in lieu of hoarding these funds the board could demonstrate some fiscal responsibility by at least paying the interest expense with the available reserves. Effectively, it would do two things: lower the overall cost of the borrowing and consequently, lower our go forward tax burden.

Our school board will be discussing the bond issue on Aug. 12, and possibly give direction to our financial advisor to sell the bonds; taxpayers with similar concerns or even better ideas should contact the board, maybe they will listen.


Bill Matthews
Mt. Lebanon

Another Budget "Fast One"

The School Board is at it again. Under law, the Board must have the final budget available for inspection for thirty days prior to the vote. According to their web page Budget News, the final vote will take place on May 20, 2013. The following is on the Home page:
School Board Approves Proposed Final Budget

At the April 15,2013 Regular Board meeting, the School Board approved a Proposed Final Budget for the 2013-2014 school year in the amount of $83,249,503 at a millage rate of 27.67, an increase of .54 mills over last year's budget. The Board will vote on the final budget at the May 20 School Board meeting.

I sent this email directly to Jan Klein since the Board tends to ignore my emails.
Ms. Klein was kind enough to respond.

From: Jan Klein <JKlein@mtlsd.net>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: School Board Email list <SchoolBoardEmaillist@mtlsd.net>
Subject: RE: Budget
Date: Mon, Apr 22, 2013 7:57 am

The budget will be posted before the end of this week.

Respectfully,

Jan

Janice Klein
Director of Business
Mt. Lebanon School District
7 Horsman Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15228
412-344-2098 (office) 412-559-9310 (cell)

I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom - Anatole France

-----Original Message----- From: egillen476@aol.com [mailto:egillen476@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2013 9:25 PM
To: Jan Klein
Cc: School Board Email list
Subject: Budget

Ms. Klein

Where is the budget posted? I don't see it on the website.

Thank you.

Elaine Gillen

________________________________
MTLSD DISCLAIMER: THIS TRANSMISSION IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE ADDRESSEE AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL, AND EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. IF YOU ARE NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, OR THE EMPLOYEE OR AGENT RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERING THE MESSAGE TO THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY DISSEMINATION, RETENTION, DISTRIBUTION, OR COPYING OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS COMMUNICATION IN ERROR, PLEASE NOTIFY THE SENDER IMMEDIATELY.________________________________

In addition, the District Budget page has included the video of the April 8 meeting. The April 2 Budget Forum was never uploaded to the District website. As it has been pointed out many times here on Lebo Citizens, I asked nine questions at the Budget Forum and was treated rudely by Mrs. Birks and Mrs. Cappucci.  In addition, Mt. Lebanon resident Bill Matthews gave an excellent presentation and was treated rudely by Mrs. Cappucci.

Tongue in cheek, the website also offers:

Contact the School Board
The Mt. Lebanon School Board is interested in your feedback. Residents are encouraged to email the Board with questions or comments at schoolboard@mtlsd.net.

I presume that the Budget is available in the District Offices somewhere, in the meantime. If not, they are pulling another fast one, as they are with not posting the Budget Forum.

As promised, more on the budget forum

Last night, Bill Matthews made an excellent presentation concerning the budget. I posted a link to his twelve page presentation here. Bill was kind enough to send Lebo Citizens readers a letter to the editor with additional comments.  Thanks, Bill!

Letter to the Editor

Last evening I spent a few minutes with the School Board at its budget forum.  I was afforded more than 4 minutes, but nevertheless hurried along, so the Board could get to “its” business at hand. 

Over the years I have watched this annual ritual and it does not change much, other than this year there is a larger than normal informational abyss on the upcoming budget.  However, there is considerable historical information and dated projections for anyone with the mind to mine the data.

Being so inclined, I did this and shared some of my findings with the board.

A.      Since 2001, total school district expenditures have outpaced inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), by about 23%.

B.      In school year 2012 – 2012 alone, this “delta” totals more than $12,000,000.

C.      While expenditures have continued to grow, enrollment has continued to decline.  In 1978, district wide enrollment was 7,131 students.  The most recently available projections from the PA Department of Education, project 2021 enrollment at 4,753 students; a 33% decline for the period.

 

D.     The increasing expenditure demands have required increasing tax support from residents.  Earned income revenues have grown commensurate with the CPI, while real estate taxes, which “balance” the budget, have grown much faster.  Since 1978, the CPI has grown by a factor of 3.6.  Gross Real Estate Revenues for the school district, by a factor of 5.5.  Adjusted for the declining enrollment, real estate revenues on a per student basis have grown by a factor of 7.4.

My primary point to the Board is that this trend is not sustainable.  They may not be able to fix it this year, but they must recognize the devil in the details, demonstrate some leadership, and chart a course for our collective future.

I have absolutely no interest in hearing about PSERS, the need to “invest” in our infrastructure, or who last kicked the can down the road.  These are all lame rationalizations for spending and taxing more. 

When elected officials take office, they do so with the intent to make a difference.  They come armed for battle with either leadership and good ideas, or OPM (other people’s money).  It seems more often than not OPM carries the day. 

ps

But for being politely “gaveled” down, I intended to share some positive observations, including:

1.      Our students, supported by their families and our talented faculty continue to achieve and make our Community proud.

2.      While achievement does come at some cost, we are far more efficient than most of Pennsylvania’s school districts when you analyze achievement with expenditures.

3.      In fact, many districts spend bunches more money per student.

4.      Who deserves the credit – see point 1.

No way! UPDATED 2x

I am sitting at the budget meeting. I will have a more comprehensive post concerning the budget forum but since I have nothing else to do, I thought I would make a quick post.

I was the first to comment. I had printed out the fourteen questions that I sent on Friday and had a copy for the board members, Jan Klein, and Tim Steinhauer. I asked if the board members could each take a question and answer only nine of the fourteen questions. Mary Birks immediately mumbled, "No way!"

Since I would publish the answers here, Elaine Cappucci was not interested in writing for my blog.  She was not willing to provide any answers. All have been discussed at the meetings, she claimed. Mrs. Posti clarified that Jan Klein did not receive a 6.9% increase as was reported in the Post Gazette. She said that the PG printed a correction and that it was 3%. I have not been able to find that. Jan Klein thought that the second bond would possibly be in the fall.

Bill Matthews made a presentation and Elaine Cappucci was more concerned with the time clock and less with content. I will be posting his presentation here tomorrow. [It has been posted as an update.]

One more resident spoke, as well as two staff members.

Now, the board is going through the motions of looking at cuts. No cuts yet. Everything is being taken off the table. Looks like we're going to be hit with a big tax increase. Wait, now we're talking about fees. Larry Lebowitz listened to Bill Matthews say that they had to do something. Looks like fees are going up so that there are no education cuts. This falls under revenue generating, according to Larry.

Update 11:19 PM Bill Matthews presentation to the School Board
Podcast to tonight's budget forum

Update April 4, 2013 4:15 PM Pittsburgh Business Times published their slideshow, School budgets: 5 years ago to now

The Annual Budget Ritual

The following letter is from Mt. Lebanon resident, Bill Matthews.

Letter to the Editor

The annual budget ritual on Horsman Drive is underway. As the Board and
Administration have done for the last few years, they will likely refuse to acknowledge and address the realities of our Community.

They will grimace ... They will offer up quarters like they are manhole covers ... They will lob grenades at “other” public officials ... They will diss those whom they feel are questioning their nobility.

I will be the first to admit we cannot save our way to prosperity. But spending our way to oblivion is no more of an acceptable proposition. The District’s budgets and forecasts (available on its website) project our “per pupil cost” will have doubled by school year 2017-2018, since 2001-2002.

This increasing encumbrance on the Community is simply not sustainable. The long term trajectories of “per pupil cost” and “earned income revenue” are clearly divergent, with the former far outpacing the latter.

Per pupil costs will have grown 4.59% per year.

Earned income revenue 2.74% per year.

Earned income while growing the least; is hardly the least important metric of our economic wherewithal. Earned income revenue is, in my opinion, a good proxy for the buying power of MTL taxpayers, yet it still does not tell the whole story. It is an average, which means by definition, not all families may have experienced even this modest growth. Many of our residents have no earned income to start. And, many are still recovering from double-digit setbacks in savings and investments.

The Board needs to get serious about cost reduction and stop dreaming about revenue enhancement. We are accountable for our own fortune. Immediately, we should chart a course where the average growth in total expenditures is less than the projected increase in earned income!

Yes, this may sound hard to some … but in the real world … leaders do what cannot be done … all the time.

"...it's not to make their taxes as low as possible" UPDATED

As you all know, the Commissioners passed a $29.84 million operating budget on Tuesday. In the Trib article, $29.84M budget passes*, Matt Kluck told the Trib that:

"...he opposed the budget because of the increase in tax revenues, given that the municipality had raised property tax rates last year and instituted a stormwater fee, and because the budget raised personnel costs with raises and new hires."

In the PG's Calculations to come Dave Brumfield was quoted as saying:

"We have a duty to residents, and it's not to make their taxes as low as possible...It's to make Mt. Lebanon the best community it can be."

Don't miss Bill Matthew's quote.

"We have to shut the spigot off," he told commissioners. "If that means we reduce the number of services, then so be it."

Kelly Fraasch posted Budget...and what I have learned. on her blog. Kelly learned five lessons from this year's budget process.  Having a Finance Advisory Board and a list of options to consider for deduction from the budget in addition to an add listing are just two of the lessons listed.

Kristen Linfante was silent, even though she got her deer survey ($12,000) and an additional $1,000 for Outreach added to the budget. Here is what is on her blog. In my own words...Mt. Lebanon, my home.... She mentions several times that she is a musician.

John Bendel had no comment.

*Article not available online

Update December 16, 2012 2:05 PM Kristen Linfante posted 2013 Budget on her blog. (and you say you don't read this blog, Kristen.) When she wrote, "As many of you know," I thought she was going to tell us that she was a musician; instead it was about deer. She also wrote:

I was pleased to successfully rally the support of both Commissioner Bendel and Commissioner Brumfield to get a deer survey included in next year's budget.

What Kristen fails to admit is that Kelly Fraasch also approved the budget, therefore supporting a deer survey. What Kristen may not know is that Kelly had reached out to residents on both sides of the deer issue. She spent countless hours writing emails, making phone calls, and meeting with constituents from all wards trying to come up with some sort of compromise on this controversial topic. Has Kristen done that? After all, she collaborates, cooperates and communicates. Sure she does.

Letter to the Editor: The Importance of Being Earnest UPDATED 2x

The following letter to the editor was submitted by Blog reader and Mt. Lebanon resident, Bill Matthews.

Several years ago, the Municipality embarked on a second journey to develop the property on Washington Road, across from where I attended first and second grade. We began our trip with an RFQ (Request for Qualifications). The thought was that by seeking out an established developer with the demonstrated credentials to build on this site, we would avoid the delays and ultimate failure experienced with the site's predecessor project. It was a good plan and we in fact received a response and proposal from one such firm.

Then we picked the other one. 

Zamagias Properties showed no experience developing residential condominiums when the firm was first selected to develop this property and handed more than $1,000,000 in TIF loan proceeds. Following a review of their website this morning, it appears not much has changed. Please see the attached letter I sent to the Commission regarding this project, more than six years ago. My letter includes the firm's original submission to demonstrate their competencies. 

The Municipality's web site indicates there will be a "Zamagias update" on October 22. It is time for the Commission to move on with a developer who maintains a successful track record for developing first class projects appropriate for this site. If the Commission elects to continue its partnership with this developer, it must also insist on the developer making good on the TIF loan. 

Bill

Update September 23, 2012 11:00 AM In response to today's 7:25 AM comment, Bill Matthews felt it was easier to post the documents rather than try to describe the repurchase agreement and extension.
Zamagias - MLPA Sales Agreement The repurchase section is on page 15 of the agreement.
Zamagias Agreement 6th amendment Note: The seventh amendment was in January 2012.

Update September 24, 2012 11:59 AM Here is supporting evidence of the conflict of interest mentioned in Bill Lewis' item number three of his 6:05 PM comment. Ballon Conflict of interest Ballon was the vice chairman of the Parking Authority and remained so until dismissed in July 2011.