Sue Flicop

Last night, the Fees Sub-Committee presented a “progress report” to the whole committee that wasn’t really progress at all. I’m not an advocate for adding or increasing school fees, and in a perfect world (or even a slightly better one) I hope we wouldn’t have any at all. But we are in the middle of a serious financial situation and we know that the upcoming budget is going to be very painful. We also know that fees for certain services/programs can help offset potential cuts in those services/programs. So the most fiscally responsible thing the fees subcommittee can do right now is to present different scenarios for different types of fees over the next few years and seriously consider the pros and cons of each—before the budget is finalized.

Instead the fees subcommittee presented only a $20 increase in student parking fees, mainly because the fee hasn’t changed in six years. They recommended no change in athletic fees or the 4th grade music fee, and stated that they would not make any recommendations about the transportation fees and USB (use of school building fee) in time for the FY10 budget discussions.

I am not advocating specific increases or new fees at this point in time. But the argument that the data is unknown or unpredictable doesn’t work for me—there is past history, neighboring communities’ past history, and some reasonable assumptions we can make. This was done last year when evaluating the potential effects of the 4th grade music fee.

I recognize that it is not fun thinking about new or higher fees—but it is a sign of responsible fiscal leadership to consider reasonable options and discuss them in public before cuts are planned and approved.