A public crucifixion isn’t necessary for whoever is responsible,
but Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Debbie Flores
owes the community a full and complete explanation about why $6
million property tax owed to the district from Measure J didn’t
make it onto the last bill from the county tax collector.
1. It’s a $6 million problem that is clearly the public’s business
A public crucifixion isn’t necessary for whoever is responsible, but Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Debbie Flores owes the community a full and complete explanation about why $6 million property tax owed to the district from Measure J didn’t make it onto the last bill from the county tax collector.
It’s a colossal and embarrassing mistake, and the temptation would be to do exactly what was done – tell the GUSD Board behind closed doors and hide behind the twin skirts of “pending litigation” or “personnel” which are narrow exceptions in state open meeting law, and not applicable to this situation.
Attempting to keep this situation behind closed doors only fosters public distrust when the issue comes into the light. Unless there’s an overriding reason to keep the public’s business secret – and there’s hardly anything more public than paying property taxes – be straightforward with the people. People understand mistakes, but attempting to hide those mistakes opens a whole different can of worms.
2. Remember that the people just voted for a $150 million bond
Since reporter Sara Suddes broke the story, the party line has been, “we’re not concerned with blame, we’re focusing on a solution.”
That’s not good enough. In order to fulfill its responsibility, the district must trace the error to its roots, tell the people what happened and fix any systemic problem. This is not about holding up a single person to ridicule. It’s about laying out the facts to this community – the same community that just strongly supported a $150 million school bond.
It’s very disappointing that public disclosure was not the initial direction chosen. That compromised school trustees who were not aware that this information was coming to them in closed session.
3. Both solutions to get the district the money due are complicated
What’s left is a mess.
The tax collector could issue a supplemental bill post haste, the solution the district is pushing for, or Santa Clara County could loan the school district the cash it needs to make a $5.3 million payment in September and pile on the extra taxes due on the next year’s bill.
The latter solution might be more complicated than it seems for a variety of reasons, including the fact that property values are dropping so quickly. Can the tax collector issue a bill the following year based on assessments for the previous year? And then there’s the issue of who’s going to foot the bill for the labor and materials if a supplemental bill is sent out.
Yes, it’s messy. But the first rule in cleaning up a mess is to acknowledge it. Though the district has quickly shifted gears and will report on the status publicly, it’s too bad that wasn’t the first step. The public’s trust is a terrible thing to waste.
