Letter: Taxpayers should get refund

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To the editor,

Another Region 16 surplus. According to Webster’s: surplus: “an amount (such as an amount of money) that is more than the amount that is needed.” Nonprofit: “not conducted or maintained for the purpose of making a profit.” Refund: “to return (money) in restitution, repayment, or balancing of accounts.”

Full disclosure, I am a supporter of the Region 16 school system, I voted for the building of the regional high school, and voted for several school budgets that have come to referendum.

Yes, the school budget is a complicated thing to predict with a level of certainty, is a bit of a “moving target,” and is subject to real-world uncertainties in both costs and revenues.

As a taxpayer, here are my two cents. The school system is a nonprofit (see above) organization. There is a surplus (see above) of $1.44 million. The taxpayers should receive a refund (see above) of 100 percent of those funds.

Lastly, transferring surplus funds into a capital non-recurring account (yet again) is not in the spirit of what a nonprofit organization, or those trusted with its stewardship, should be doing; thereby avoiding the perception of “feathering one’s own nest.”

Jim Hagan

Beacon Falls