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Lehighton sends several monthly payments to CCTI

Published October 01. 2019 12:20PM

Two payments owed to Carbon Career and Technical Institute from one of its sending school districts for over a month arrived last week.

CCTI Business Administrator Jeff Deutsch said the school received payments from Lehighton Area School District for July and August on Thursday.

In an email last week, Lehighton business manager Patricia Denicola said July and August payments, totaling over $300,000, were not timely mailed after they were approved by the district’s school board.

“This was corrected before (last week’s) finance committee meeting when I discovered that the payments had not yet been mailed,” Denicola said.

Dave Reinbold, CCTI executive director, attended Lehighton’s finance committee meeting last week and said he had reached out several times to the district’s superintendent.

“My only purpose of going to the finance committee meeting on Monday was to inform the committee that payments were not received despite several communications with the administration,” Reinbold said. “I appreciate all that the entire Lehighton board and the finance committee does in support of CCTI.”

Each month, Lehighton is billed $157,000 from CCTI.

Deutsch said this scenario was the first time a sending district had owed the school, which serves Lehighton, Palmerton, Panther Valley, Jim Thorpe and Weatherly, two or three payments at one time.

District cash flow concerns, Denicola said, resulted in the slower payment of some bills until real estate tax money starts coming in strong again.

“We have to make sure we’re making our Pennsylvania State Employee Retirement System payments and meeting our payroll,” she said. “The subsidy cycle has started again, so that is going to help out.”

For the past three fiscal years, Denicola said, the district has paid CCTI invoices each month from July through March. March has been the final operating payment to CCTI for the fiscal year.

According to Reinbold, payments from sending districts are due on the fifth of each month. Lehighton’s September payment, however, was just approved Monday night and the October payment will be on the Oct. 28 board agenda for approval.

“This is consistent with how the district has paid CCTI in the past,” Denicola said.

Comments
This administration can’t get anything right. I think it’s time someone of a higher authority take a close look at this school district. They have the local judges in their in their back pocket. The new business manager is nothing but a tool. It’s been all down hill since she took over and she just blames the guy before her. We never hear any answers to legitimate questions at board meetings. Something needs to change here soon the taxpayers are at their limits. Hiding information from the public that foots the bill should be illegal. I do not understand why people are not held accountable for their actions.
Board members are not required to answer questions. From what I'm told, by people who serve on other School Boards, the PSBA and School Solicitors recommend not doing so. In my opinion, the burning question here is why did not the Superintendent reach out to the Business Administrator when first contacted by CCTI? This could all have been resolved far sooner had he done so.
I can certainly see why there may have been a cash flow issue. That will happen when the tax bills arrive 6 weeks late. I think the Administration needs to take a course on how to live within a Budget. There is little incentive to do so when taxes can just be raised to fund things wanted and not necessarily needed. And some of the kids are using textbooks that are literally falling apart. A 44 million dollar budget supported for the most part by residential property taxes as the local contribution, and kids are using books that are literally in pieces. Shameful!
Soon, there won't be much of a tax base to pull from. There's no viable businesses in the district, people are selling and moving out. Nothing but hospitals and emergency centers are buying up the farmland for pennies on the $$, which add no tax base. The district should be budgeting within their means but careless spending on unnecessary things is what they do best. So much for "This is for the future of our children"!!
Two different stories here. Which one is to be believed?
According to this article----
According to Reinbold, payments from sending districts are due on the fifth of each month. Lehighton’s September payment, however, was just approved Monday night and the October payment will be on the Oct. 28 board agenda for approval.
For the past three fiscal years, Denicola said, the district has paid CCTI invoices each month from July through March. March has been the final operating payment to CCTI for the fiscal year.
“This is consistent with how the district has paid CCTI in the past,” Denicola said.
Then, if you view the video of the Finance meeting where this was discussed, you will hear the CCTI representative say they did not receive payments for June, July or August. So what happened with the June payment? Very confusing. If this Business Administrator knew there was a cash flow problem a simple call to CCTI may very well have avoided all of this discussion

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