It would appear that common council members of all political stripes are singing the same tune when it comes to the BOE. You could say it can be hummed along to “Meet Me In St. Louis”, since meeting with the council, long before Dr. Sal Corda sets pen to paper to bubble in his budget requests, would get the financial machinery in motion. Meanwhile Bruce Kimmel reminds his fellow BOE members that there’s this thing called the finance committee that needs to meet.
Will Susan Hamilton decide to do the right thing? Stay tuned. Your next opportunity apparently is Monday. A BOE meeting at 7PM.
Krummel said to the Alexandra Fenwick of the Advocate, “The Board of Education’s operation budget is going to be between 55 (percent) and 60 percent of the city budget. We want to work as close as we can with Board of Ed people to have their budget approved. We want to meet with them quite early on to discuss their concerns and understand their problems.”
That’s a start. But Krummel also said:
Krummel, chairman of the Public Works Committee, said he plans to meet with the city’s finance director and Board of Estimate and Taxation to ensure that adequate funds are provided.
“The city administration is Republican, and Democrats will naturally want to hammer away and ask, ‘Why aren’t you giving the Public Works Department more money to do a good job on the roads?’ ” Krummel said. “We will be trying to get the necessary money for repairs, and we know that all the money that is needed won’t be forthcoming.”
As a long time member of Public WOrks, Krummel should know that demanding financial accountability on what has been allocated and remains unspent in the DPW budget is perhaps the first place to start. No use throwing them more money when they cant tell you how many roads have been paved, trees pruned, sewer manholes replaced etc. Data is in order.
source: The Advocate, Council to focus on road repair, demolition rules, By Alexandra Fenwick, November 29 2007
