GILROY
– A Dec. 15 deadline to make good on the $65,000 that three
high-profile school district officials owe their political
consultant has been pushed back another month.
GILROY – A Dec. 15 deadline to make good on the $65,000 that three high-profile school district officials owe their political consultant has been pushed back another month.
Tramutola Public Mobilization, the Oakland-based political consulting firm which ran the successful $69 million school bond campaign last election, is allowing Superintendent Edwin Diaz, school board President Jim Rogers and trustee Bob Kraemer until Jan. 15 to make the final payment owed the company. The three men are responsible for the tab because they signed the contract between Tramutola and their grassroots campaign called Better Schools for Gilroy Children.
“We’ve negotiated for a one month extension. We told them we’d do our best to get the money together by that time,” said Rogers.
Better Schools for Gilroy Children treasurer Bill O’Conner could not comment on fund-raising details before deadline. Late last month, O’Conner’s records showed that $11,500 of the $65,000 remained uncollected.
The $65,000 price tag is the result of the bond’s successful passage Nov. 5, when it garnered more than 62 percent of the vote, 7 points better than required. If the initiative had failed on Election Day, Better Schools would not have owed anything to Tramutola.
Since Election Day, Better Schools for Gilroy Children has searched for additional financial help and contacted previous donors to see if they would follow up their initial generosity with another contribution. Rogers and Kraemer have said $5,000 to $7,000 of the shortfall would likely get picked up by prior contributors or people who promised to make a donation if the bond passed.
Better Schools for Gilroy Children has raised $116,800 toward the Measure I campaign, $37,500 coming from George K. Baum & Company, the firm which is underwriting the bonds for a profit of roughly $690,000.
Better Schools for Gilroy Children spent $100,000 on the Measure I campaign, $27,000 of which went toward multiple bulk mailings of glossy brochures explaining the initiative and giving reasons to support the bond.
The $69 million raised by Measure I will fund a large chunk of the Gilroy Unified School District’s 25-year facilities plan. Over the next several years, GUSD is slated to construct new and refurbish deteriorating school buildings district-wide.
