From the annals of big mistakes

“Now, let’s try this again.

“I’m not against a school bond to fix our schools. I’m opposed to giving the money ($110 million from the bond; $53 million in matching funds, contributed by your fellow taxpayers from around the state; $163 million total) to this particular school board.

“I have asked for two things: accountability -- quite different from the apology some folks believe I want -- and some financial history that will show taxpayers this board is capable of administrating $163 million in public funds.

“This is not too much to ask before we hand over that much money. Almost anyone reading this would have to supply far more information than that just to buy a used car.”

-- Steve Smith, Daily Pilot, March 2000

The temptation here is to say, “I told you so.” To point out that everything I believed about the fiscal naivete -- not irresponsibility -- of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of trustees is true.

For after five years of campus reconstructions, and before any single school is done, you are now being asked to pay more in taxes for maintenance and upgrades that should have been included in the first place.

It’s called Measure F. I didn’t designate the letter -- it’s merely a coincidence that in school speak, F means fail.

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“The size of this tax indicates to me that for a very long time, someone was asleep at the wheel. Among the questions I’d like to have answered before I cast my vote on a new tax is this one: Exactly where were the board members and what were they doing a few years ago when the bill was $120 million? $80 million? How about ‘only’ $30 million?”

-- Steve Smith, Daily Pilot, January 2000

The least we should expect from anyone elected to office is that he or she be honest, work hard and be responsible with our money.

That politicians use our money is often lost in all of their daily doings, but the fact is that every building in which they work, every piece of equipment they use -- every paper clip -- was paid for by your labor.

So I do not believe it is too much to ask that politicians spend our money wisely.

I don’t believe this board is irresponsible. I just believe, as I did five years ago, that they are not experienced enough to handle this kind of money. The proof is their request for even more dough.

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“Out of the $163 million the district would like property owners to give them, the single biggest line item is for ‘Implementation.’ For the uninitiated, ‘Implementation’ is how much it will cost to spend your money.

“Specifically, implementation money is used for plan check fees, project management, design services, testing/inspection, interim housing and a built-in 10% contingency budget, also known as cost overruns.”

-- Steve Smith, Daily Pilot, April 2000

The authors of the new bond want you to know that none of the new tax money will be spent on administrators or secretaries or other such staff. Five years ago, $50 million of the $163 million they anticipated -- almost one-third -- was also not going to staff. But it was going to pay people to tell us how to carry out the plans that the school board now realizes are insufficient.

And that would not have been so bad had the school board mouthpieces not been promoting it heavily as a “brick and mortar” bond.

Is it too much to ask for just one member of this board to stand up and say that he or she blew it, that he or she misjudged the need for repairs and upgrades and that they are sorry they have to ask us for close to half a billion dollars over the past five years?

I don’t think it’s too much to ask. I believe that any responsible, secure elected official would do just that. I have calls into them. More on their answers in a future column.

So here we are in round two. I’m anticipating the usual responses labeling me antischool, antiteacher and antikids. What I won’t expect, and what I challenge any reader to do, is to keep the responses to answering the arguments I will make.

Otherwise, I just may say, “I told you so.”

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to dailypilot@latmes.com.

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