School District 43 trustees have voted in favor of a forensic audit despite concerns that putting the books under a financial microscope could cost up to $100,000.
The motion was passed Tuesday night near the end of a long meeting, in which trustees also approved $12.5 million in staff and program cuts and passed a preliminary $271.2 million operating budget for next year.
The Coquitlam Teachers Association and CUPE Local 561 had threatened to launch a public campaign to convince the board to approve the audit over the concerns the district's finances were mismanaged last year, leading to a $13 million deficit for 2012'13, without $5 million in pre-emptive cuts, and 142 job losses next year to avoid a future deficit.
But before the campaign could get underway, trustee Keith Watkins brought forward a motion calling for a forensic audit, arguing the board needed more answers than what the regular annual audit would provide. "It's doing an independent study that would look at what went wrong in the last two years," Watkins said.
Several colleagues expressed concern about lack of information, especially on scope and costs. Trustees all said they wanted a forensic audit to bring back "trust" and regain credibility to the district's budget process. "Until we get through this we lose the trust of our partner groups," acknowledged Brian Robinson, a Coquitlam trustee.
But some trustees wanted to wait a few weeks for a public presentation from new auditors KPMG before agreeing to the motion, including Port Coquitlam trustee Judy Shirra who said she wasn't ready to "write a blank cheque" without more information.
NO BLAME WILL BE LAID
But Watkins asked his colleagues to "push it," winning the support of members of the audience who clapped at the suggestion, as well as board chair Melissa Hyndes who previously stated that expanding the scope of the regular annual audit would be enough to find and correct previous errors.
"It will be money well spent," to restore credibility and help the district move forward, Hyndes said, adding: "We need a fiscal plan that is more long term than year to year."
Acting secretary treasurer Guy Bonnefoy went some way toward assuaging trustees' concerns, noting "It's not a process whereby you are trying to lay blame." Instead, forensic auditors would examine the facts and identify areas for improvement at a cost of between $75,000 to $100,000.
The decision to hire a forensic auditor comes as the school district faces down one of its largest deficits in 30 years, according to some, blamed partly on miscalculations in enrollment, revenue and expense calculations and downloading of benefits costing about $4 million a year.
Superintendent Tom Grant said increases in funding, including an additional $116 per pupil this year, were not enough to cover higher CPP, EI, MSP, extended health and pension plan benefit hikes.
Hyndes urged trustees to support the budget even though the cuts will be painful to those losing their jobs and she dismissed a suggestion by Watkins to apply to the budget $867,000 of the annual hold back grant - money the province keeps until enrollment numbers are confirmed but doesn't always give back.
"It's not sustainable. It's not something we can count on," Hyndes said.
But Watkins disagreed, and he refused to support the budget, saying he was "disappointed" in his colleagues for not clawing back the holdback cushion to save jobs.
Trustees also discussed small changes to the budget to offset cuts expected to increase class sizes slightly, reduce professional development, re-organize student services and other programs for vulnerable and special needs students.
Trustee Judy Shirra also refused to support the budget, saying the board lacked certainty that cutting jobs wouldn't result in other costs, such as severance and arbitration fees.
Still it was passed, with Coquitlam trustee Diane Sowden absent from the vote.
Other changes:
7.3 FTE teaching assistant positions will be cut to keep five of 10 custodian jobs that were to be lost because trustees wanted to avoid possible arbitration costs that might be incurred because of changes to negotiated staffing formulas. These are clerical workers who read to students, support teachers and do other school work.
$50,000 in professional development money for trustees will be put toward the budget
$150,000 in costs to bus Port Moody and Anmore students to Moody middle will be transferred to the capital budget while a new school is built.
WHAT THEY SAID
Quotes:
The following is a sampling of trustee quotes on the passage of the $271.2 million School District 43 operating budget, which includes $12.5 million in staff and program cuts to avoid a deficit.
"I feel satisfied we are doing the best we can given the circumstances," - Gail Alty, Coquitlam
"No cuts are good cuts. The reality is that some cuts are essential," - John Keryluk, Port Coquitlam
"I really cannot accept the budget," - Judy Shirra, Port Coquitlam
"The reality is I have a lot of concerns about the dynamics of the budget. I am still not satisfied," - Keith Watkins, Port Moody
"I think the time has come for us to make a decision," - Holly Butterfield, Anmore/Belcarra
"I can't see any other way but moving forward with this," - Melissa Hyndes, Port Moody
"I'm just really saddened at the people who will lose their jobs," - Gerri Wallis,
"We are hitting that service (staff development) rely hard. As soon as possible we should get it back to where it is now," - Brian Robinson, Coquitlam
