Noel abstains from budget vote

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A routine Santa Barbara School District’s budget hearing held before a sparse audience last Friday at the district’s Administration Center turned into a two-hour-long, tense discussion between Board of Education members and the district’s Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Edward Diaz.
On the table was a staff recommendation that the board approve the district’s $119.2 million budget for fiscal year 2007-2008.
After a brief presentation by Diaz, board member Bob Noel wanted to dive into a line-by-line overview of the budget, during which motions would be made and voted on by the board – something he claimed he and the other board members had not yet had the opportunity to do.
“This is the only time in the past 12 months we’ve had this on the action agenda. I want them to quit presenting me with predigested choices,” Noel told the Daily Sound after the meeting. “We never see the whole picture. This document should have been in our hands one month ago.
“This is bad management.”
Diaz, who was noticeably upset after standing at the podium fielding a slew of questions from Noel and other board members, immediately left the room after the board voted 4-0 to approve the budget with Noel abstaining, and refused to comment to a Daily Sound reporter about the meeting.
A handful budget meetings have been held over the past few months and have appeared on the board’s conference agenda, but according to Noel, none were on the action agenda, which is typically reserved for board votes on particular items.
Some of the specific spending categories in the budget that Noel wanted to discuss and possibly cut or increase (his motives were not clear), included $438,900 allocated for travel and conferences and $6.1 million of spending on professional and consulting services.
“I think that warrants discussion and some reflection on priorities,” Noel said.
Both of these totals are far below what they were last year, with spending for travel and conferences down 52.2 percent, while spending on consulting services took a 16.4 percent dive.
Board member Annette Cordero didn’t share Noel’s point of view, saying the board has had ample time before the final budget hearing to comment on anything one believed was out of whack.
“I think it’s a bit disingenuous to suggest the only time we can make suggestions and ask questions is when something is on the action agenda,” Cordero said. “We can do that any day, and any time of the year.”
Board member Kate Parker reminded Noel of the $2.5 million in budget cuts made in April, at which time the board looked at some form of the budget.
“We were presented with a menu,” Noel said of the budget cut discussions.
Near the end of the discussion, Parker and Board President Nancy Harter brought up the need to form a budget committee, similar to the city of Santa Barbara’s finance committee, which is made up of council members who grapple with budgetary issues.
“I think that is exactly where we need to go with this,” Parker said.
But this proposal didn’t appease Noel.
“We’ve not been in a position to make votes,” Noel said. “This document is structured in such a way as to make decision making very difficult.”