District starting to fume

Gas station deficit amount in question, but officials turn up the heat

By Matt Chiappardi, Staff Writer
   HIGHTSTOWN — About two weeks ago, leaders of the East Windsor Regional School District said a fueling station used by the district and the two towns it serves is carrying a deficit of about $215,000.
   This week, the district’s business administrator backed away from that figure, at least temporarily, by more than half the original amount. And the former business administrator, whom the district is blaming for the deficit, went so far as to say there may be no shortfall at all.
   Still, some school board members made it clear the district will go after the towns for the money it believes it is owed.
   ”We can take action that may not be nice or pretty,” said Susan Lloyd of Hightstown, who declined to later elaborate except to say she didn’t mean a lawsuit.
   On Sept. 10, Business Administrator Kurt Stumbaugh was planning to ask the school board to ban East Windsor and Hightstown from using the fueling station on Mercer Street in the borough because, he said, they weren’t responding to requests to help address their portions of a $215,000 deficit.
   That item was removed from the agenda, Superintendent Ron Bolandi said, because the towns can’t legally be excluded under the terms of a 20-year agreement, which is 15 years old. But Mr. Bolandi did say the station has a $217,000 deficit over about ten10 years.
   He said then, and repeated at Monday’s meeting, that the reason for the deficit is that retired Business Administrator David Shafter failed to bill the towns properly.
   ”This is definitely a problem we’ve created,” Mr. Bolandi told the board.
   ”It falls solely on the shoulders of the former business administrator who did not bill correctly,” he added.
   But Mr. Shafter claimed this week that he “never missed a bill” since the station began operating in 1992, and said he believes the total deficit may be even lower or nonexistent.
   He said the value of the fuel stored underground at the station is not included in the station’s financial records, something Mr. Stumbaugh confirmed Wednesday. Those two tanks, Mr. Shafter said, hold about 15,000 gallons of fuel each. If included, “the deficit would be reduced by whatever the value of the fuel would be,” he said. He added that it could possibly eliminate the deficit completely.
   Mr. Stumbaugh said that while, generally, the municipalities were billed for the wholesale cost of gasoline or diesel fuel, overhead costs associated with running the station were ignored by Mr. Shafter.
   Mr. Shafter said he billed for the fuel price, added the price of the insurance for the two tanks and for repairs whenever they occurred.
   ”Everything else was negligible,” he said.
   ”If the business administrator called me to discuss this problem, he’d have been given the same information,” added Mr. Shafter.
   ”I did not leave the district on bad terms. I’m ready to help them anytime,” he added.
   Mr. Stumbaugh acknowledged that he did not contact Mr. Shafter, who worked for the district since 1989.
   ”I’m relying on my audit. I’m not going to debate a former business administrator,” he added.
   During a public presentation Monday Mr. Stumbaugh lowered his deficit estimate to $99,226, saying there were two different auditing systems by two auditors yielded conflicting results. Mr. Stumbaugh said he would stand by the “more conservative” figure until he could determine what elements resulted in the discrepancy.
   Under the terms of the agreement, all three parties are responsible for the deficit, based on usage of the facility. The district’s usage amounts to a little more than half of the total, according to both the current and former business administrators.
   Regardless of the deficit amount, some board members said Monday that they want the money, and their rhetoric directed at the two municipalities was decidedly pointed.
   Board member Bruce Ettman compared the situation to a mortgage company not billing its customer correctly.
   ”Just because they don’t bill me right doesn’t mean I don’t owe them money,” he said.
   And board member Susan Lloyd echoed his sentiment.
   ”JCPL isn’t going to let you not pay for six months because of a billing error,” she said.
   Board member Jim Hauck said the district has to negotiate “amicably or otherwise.
   ”We’re talking about closing pools, closing programs … it boils down to dollars and cents. The district is supposed to use that money for educational purposes.”
   Board Vice President Bob Laverty asked if the district should seek arbitration. Mr. Bolandi said it is too soon for that.
   For the municipalities’ parts, officials from East Windsor and Hightstown say they pay their bills and are trying to come to a resolution over the shortfall.
   ”We diligently pay all of our bills,” East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov said this week while repeating that she is hopeful of an “amicable solution.”
   Hightstown Administrator Candace Gallagher offered a similar view.
   ”The borough has no problem paying what we legitimately owe the district,” she said.
   As for what she believes that number is, she said the borough’s treasurer is trying to figure that out.
   Mr. Stumbaugh said he met with representatives of the communities Aug. 28, an encounter he called “totally nonproductive.”
   Ms. Gallagher agreed with that characterization, but East Windsor Township Manager Alan Fisher did not.
   ”The meeting provided an important exchange of information from all three participating entities,” he said.
   At that meeting, Mr. Stumbaugh said he offered both municipalities an opportunity to pay a portion of their share of the deficit in a lump sum to resolve the issue.
   ”They got an offer they couldn’t refuse, and they refused it,” he said.
   Ms. Gallagher would not comment on the offer, but Mr. Fisher said the township never refused the offer and is still considering it.
   A related issue about the fueling station that rankles Mr. Stumbaugh is the use of it by Washington Township ambulances.
   ”To expand to a third party without informing the lead agency is wrong,” he said.
   Hightstown and Washington have a three-year agreement to share emergency medical services that began early this year.
   When a Washington ambulance is stationed in Hightstown, it uses the fuel from the station on the borough’s tab, said Washington Township Administrator Mary Cafferty.
   ”I don’t think it should be a surprise to anyone why the ambulance is in town,” said Ms. Cafferty.
   When Washington Mayor David Fried was asked about the ambulance, and why he did not inform the district about it, he said, “Hightstown was using the ambulance. Public safety should always come before pettiness.”