A Watershed Moment Looms
By Josh Resnek
The School Finance Commission meeting scheduled for Thursday evening at city hall in the council chamber may very well prove to be a seminal moment for the mayor.
It appears likely he will have to come clean about the city’s financial situation, although the Commission agenda finds him asking the school department about its hiring practices.
School officials miffed at being questioned about their expenses by him are expected to make it clear that it is the mayor who is on trial at this meeting, not the School Department.
In fact, the mayor has already decided what exactly he will do with the contested $2.5 million raised by Senator Sal DiDomenico and intended for the Everett Public Schools.
However, the mayor declined to tell the Leader Herald whether he was going to hand the money over to the EPS or keep it for other uses connected with running the city at a time when the city’s finances are in a perceived state of disarray.
The official agenda for the Commission, released to the public late Monday afternoon, details 10 items to be discussed.
Primary among them, listed as number 8, requests that the mayor give an update on the $2.5 million and if he is going to give the funding to the schools and if not what the funding will be utilized for.
This will likely be the most awaited moment in the continuing debate about the $2.5 million.
The mayor has apparently indicated to several public officials that if he gives the EPS the $2.5 million, the city is down to $400,000 of operating capital.
The battle appearing to be building on Thursday night is the gap that must be bridged between the mayor’s comments that the city is flush with money, and the harsh reality, that the city is not flush with money, and in fact, that the city needs more money, and sooner rather than later.
The mayor declined to speak with the Leader Herald.