Spending hundreds of millions
A review by the State Auditor and Inspector’s office shows that Skiatook Public Schools overpaid more than $570,000 for supplies bought from July 1, 2004, through Dec. 31, 2009.
The state auditor found that the district was paying way too much for supplies when they could have been purchased much cheaper.
According to the report, the school district paid too much for everything in terms of custodial supplies and security equipment.
It paid $60 for $8 trashcans and $1,500 for a $500 vacuum cleaner.
No criminal charges have yet been filed.
Even if you are honest, it’s hard to spend half a million dollars without paying too much or wasting money.
That’s the challenge for the Broken Arrow and Tulsa School districts after passing $295,000,000.00 and $354,000,000.00 tax increases in recent months.
Both have set up “watch dog committees” to make sure no money is misspent.
Right.
Those committees traditionally rely exclusively on staff reports and after meeting for a few years (or months), they lose interest.
Surely, the Skiatook School Board didn’t expect to get half the goods it paid for when spending $570,000.00.
If that happens in Broken Arrow and Tulsa, the combined loss would more than $300,000,000.00 in wasted tax dollars.
It’s doubtful the waste (or corruption) would go that high but they didn’t think it would in Skiatook, either.
Public school officials have an insatiable appetite for property taxes. They want to build and build and build. In order to do that, they have to spend and spend and spend.
Tulsa County residents are overtaxed. And when you give bureaucrats hundreds of millions of dollars to spend, you can bet you are not getting the most for those precious tax dollars.
Stop growing government
Pardon our cynicism when liberal pundits cry about cuts in Oklahoma’s social services.
They always trot out the pathetic tale of a broken family mired in alcoholism and drug addiction and explain that the only solution is to fund some special state program that forces one of the parents to submit to the humiliating manipulation by a faceless bureaucrat in order to get a monthly check.
Thanks to the Obama recession, Oklahoma’s energy producers are cutting back and Oklahoma’s customers are not spending as much on items subject to state sales tax.
That means that the state budget crafted in the summer of 2009 is going to be at least a billion dollars short.
That has forced cuts because Oklahoma, unlike America (and California), has to balance its budget.
That’s a good thing.
Since Gov. Brad Henry has been in office, his primary goal (behind expanding gambling) has been to grow the size of government. And to some extent, the Republican leadership has played right along.
Four years ago, when the state had a billion dollar surplus, instead of padding the state retirement fund or fixing more highways and bridges, the state expanded the size and cost of government. It has grown at a much greater rate than the private sector.
The one redeeming act was to fill the Rainy Day Fund – although a tax refund would have done more for the economy. But now that fund will be raided while the sun is shining brightly.
Oklahoma toyed with the idea of zero based budgeting while Frank Keating was governor. Now, fiscal responsibility is being forced on the state and it’s no cause for tears.
OKC’s Kevin Durant for MVP
Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder should be named the National Basketball Association’s “most valuable player.”
Durant probably won’t get it because LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers is more flashy and the Cavs have a better shot at winning the title.
But the award is not the “best player” award but “most valuable player” award. James may be the best player but the best player is not always the right choice for MVP.
James won it last year and Kobe Bryant won it the year before.
A few years ago, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns won the MVP award in back-to-back years in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. Nash didn’t lead the league in scoring nor did he lead in rebounding. He did lead the league in assists and was at the top in field goal percentage, three-point shooting and free throw percentage.
But most importantly, when he left the Dallas Mavericks to join the Suns, he revitalized that team. He woke a sleeping giant. The Suns didn’t win a title but got close both years – mostly because of Nash, a skinny 6-3 guard from Canada.
This season, the Thunder will probably make the playoffs and win 20-25 more games than they did last season. And this is mostly because of Durant, a tall, slender scoring machine who is good as gold in crunch time.
James or Bryant will probably win it but people who know basketball, know how valuable Kevin Durant is for the Oklahoma City Thunder.