I posted earlier about the highly unethical tactics of Diane Rodriguez and Keith Neville in relation to the purchase of a bus. I feel it is important to clarify my stance on the whole thing. I was never anti-bus. I was anti slashing everyone’s budgets for a “free” bus that was not going to be close to free.
The reason I was anti Diane Rodriguez bus is because she was not being factual. She kept trying to lobby on behalf of her friend Keith Neville, whom I assume is partially responsible for the crazy cash grab she has enjoyed for an extended period of time. She kept insisting the bus had to be purchased immediately and was somehow going to be free.
The reality of it is the state is changed the funding formula (which she knew) and they were changing the transportation reimbursement (which she should’ve known for over $50 an hour). The state is adjusting the formula to a 15 year payback, not a 4 year. The only rationale for her convenient amnesia is she needed to do some back scratching to keep the checks rolling in.
The time to purchase a bus, as a stated repeatedly through the budget process was after the ending funding balance posted. The time to look at that line item is when there is potentially extra money in the budget to cover the payments from the prior year carry over. Keith Neville likes to foam at the mouth and talk about a time long past, or a hypothetical amount of money. That money is not available until the completion of the audit.
Diane Rodriguez also repeatedly to address the fact that capital and debt funds could be used for the payment. That was also a change from years past. Now that the state only pays $3,000 a year per bus with a 15 year payback, the better place to take the bus from would have been a capital fund. The state no longer requires it to be purchased from the general fund for reimbursement.
The tragedy is now parents are transporting their kids to sporting events I assume semi-regularly because Diane Rodriguez and Keith Neville were so busy trying to buy a bus at the absolute wrong time that they completely forgot that the bus currently in inventory required servicing to remain viable. That was always going to be required because the lead time on a new bus runs about a year. Even if their unethical goal had been achieved, the current bus required service until the new one came in.