Complains Dist. 214 budget is just paper

District 214 is very proud of the fact that they have balanced their budget for 17 straight years. This is a shallow and meaningless boast. They can make the budget say whatever they want without any consequences or meaning. The board never, and I mean never, compares the budget to actual performance.

Not only that, but the budget document approved by the board at their September 15th meeting is totally unintelligible to even the most skilled professional accountant not to mention a layman. The budget document consists of 429 pages of computer printouts that only show account numbers and dollar amounts budgeted.

There are 12 pages of summaries, but they cannot be related to the voluminous detail. There are no comparisons to last year’s budget, last year’s actual results and, of course, no explanations of any variances. The three pages of assumptions are so general that one cannot relate them to the budget or determine to what extent, if at all, they were used.

Finally there is no historical or projected statistical data on which to evaluate the budget. Also the board never has any discussion about either the tentative budget presented in August or the final budget approved at their last meeting. Anyone can verify this by simply looking at the board minutes on their website.

According to state law the board is supposed to “respect taxpayer’s interests” and exercise “financial oversight, accountability, and fiduciary responsibilities,” among other things. You be the judge.

Roland G. Ley, president

Taxpayers United

Arlington Heights