Collier schools’ finances to be focus of blue ribbon committee

By KATHERINE LEWIS (Contact)
9:23 p.m., Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Are Collier County schools in financial trouble?

The answer lies in what a team of seven community members discover as they examine the Collier County School District’s books.

The team is a blue ribbon committee named to determine if the district has the financial need for a referendum that will be placed on the ballot in November.

The referendum would allow the district to lower its capital property tax by 0.25 mills, or 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, and raise the property tax in the general fund by the same amount — a tax neutral idea.

The money collected from the referendum, should voters approve it, could help the school district offset budget constraints from a state revenue shortfall. The district already made about $15 million in cuts this year and district officials expect that number to grow to about $19 million for the 2008-09 school year.

Former state Rep. Dudley Goodlette has been at the helm of the discussion to bring the blue ribbon committee to examine the district’s funds. Goodlette said he met with Superintendent Dennis Thompson first in April at the request of Susan McManus, executive director of The Education Foundation of Collier County. The purpose of that meeting was to allow Goodlette to share his thoughts about the referendum being put on the ballot.

Goodlette said he initially told Thompson to put the referendum on the Aug. 26 primary ballot. He changed his mind, he said, after speaking with community organizations and civic associations about the idea.

“Many people were concerned about the way Dr. Thompson came on board. They were concerned that he was going to Rockford-ize the district,” Goodlette said, referring to the Rockford, Ill., school district Thompson came from. “I started thinking it was not as much of a slam dunk as I realized.”

In June, Goodlette told School Board members he had changed his mind about putting the referendum on the August ballot and urged them to move it to November.

At the time, Board Vice Chairwoman Pat Carroll said she was reluctant to reschedule the referendum because the perception could be that the School Board doesn’t know what it’s doing. She said she was swayed, however, by the arguments presented to the board.

“If this impacts public perception, we will have more time to turn it around,” she said.

Board members asked Goodlette to help choose a blue ribbon committee to determine what the impact of a referendum would have on the district.

Goodlette said committee members were chosen because they have deep roots in the community and can read balance statements.

“They are conversant with numbers,” he said. “They are not the usual suspects.”

Goodlette said the district and School Board will have limited input during the committee’s research. He said the district is providing copies of its financial statements and access to staff members, such as Bob Spencer, the district’s executive director of financial services, to answer questions the committee might have.

“We have given them each a four-inch packet of information to look through,” he said.

Goodlette said the group will meet for the first time at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Cummings & Lockwood, 3001 Tamiami Trail N. He said the committee has not been given a timetable to report their findings.

“Obviously, we realize the sooner the better and I believe after a handful of meetings, they will come up with the answer,” he said.

School Board Chairwoman Linda Abbott said she sees the committee as a “third party verification of the status of the district’s funds.”

If the committee comes back and validates the district’s assertion that it is in need of the referendum, Goodlette said he expects to form a political action committee to support the referendum.

If the group finds something else, he said, he believes his involvement will be over.

“We would not go forward beyond the report,” he said.

Goodlette said he has also advised Thompson to develop a group of citizens to advocate for the referendum while the committee examines the district’s financial statements.

Goodlette said the committee’s work should not be confused with what the School Board is doing in respect to outsourcing custodial services or insurance for employees.

The School Board delayed a vote on whether to outsource its custodial services until September when the state of the district’s finances would have been confirmed by the committee.

Leaders of Teamsters Local 79, which is the union that represents the custodians, came up with a plan to save the district money, in hopes of eliminating the need to outsource. Union leaders believe their insurance idea can save the district $5.69 million in fiscal year 2009, and $7.36 million in fiscal year 2010. Under the idea, the district would switch insurance plans, going from a self-insurance plan and moving the district’s more than 5,700 employees to a multi-state, multi-company plan that would save the district an average of $81.84 per employee for the remainder of 2008.

The union said the district could continue its policy to pay 100 percent of employees’ coverage while paying less per employee.

The committee’s members are: Russell Budd, president of Professional Building Systems and the past president of the Collier Building Industry Association; CJ Hueston, president an CEO of Corporate Dimensions Inc., and current chairman of the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce; Kenneth Krier, principal of Cummings & Lockwood LLC and past director of the Naples Community Hospital; Barbara Melvin, vice president and small business relationship manager at Wachovia; Nathan Phillips, managing principal of Wentzel, Berry, Wentzel & Phillips, P.A. and director of the YMCA of Collier County; Adria Starkey, recently retired regional president for Wachovia Bank and former chair of the Economic Development Council of Collier County; and James Van Fleet, chairman of the Collier County Hispanic Advisory Board and member and former chair of the Collier County Government Productivity Committee.