Culver City Observer -

Where’s the $28,000 dollars?

The past five years have seen disastrous budget cuts Karlo Silbiger advised during The League of Woman’s Voter/PTA Council candidate forum Thursday evening October 3.

So why then did he, Nancy and Patricia vote to spend $28,000 to an outside consulting firm to investigate placing a bond measure on our November ballot then do nothing to track, monitor, direct, report on those efforts until the fateful night the plug was pulled on placing a bond measure on the ballot and then did nothing until decisions were forestalled?

Bonds are good for major capitol projects, parcel taxes are good for on-going expenses and a balance of the two needs to be considered Karlo referenced in response to a question at the forum. The district Community Budget Advisory Committee, of which I was chairperson, is on record for the last two years advising to renew Measure EE, the parcel tax. Yet when Karlo voted to spend the $28,000 no reference did he make to a parcel tax to be investigated in the study.

$28,000 could pay for a part-time librarian or nurse or teachers aid to a classroom. All positions lost during the state budget crunch and not yet brought back. $28,000 that could be used to fix some drinking fountains or other ongoing maintenance issue Karlo and Nancy claim to champion.

So the question one has to ask, what other monies has Karlo squandered in his past four years? Matching funds for solar from the state? Contracts approved and not monitored? We know that $28,000 went down a rabbit hole, but how much more?

Past behavior is an indicator of future behavior. We need school board members who will watch our dollars go to the students not down a hole.

Alan Elmont

Culver City