The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper. We welcome supporting or opposing views on any published item. Received May 1, 2026.
I appreciate Board Chair Heather Pach’s response to my letter on the RSD 17 reserve fund. Her letter rests on a single load-bearing claim. The reserve isn’t overfunded, she argues, because the district plans to spend “over $2 million a year for the next 5 years in capital, non-recurring expenses alone.” But there is no such plan for voters to review.
I’d like to see the plan. Pach’s own letter says RSD 17 “is currently updating and prioritizing our comprehensive 5 year capital plan.” Present tense. Whatever version exists internally, no plan has been published for voters to review and no plan has been formally adopted by the Board. I searched the district website, the BOE pages, the Facilities page, and the proposed budget. I found references to the HKHS Master Plan with Tecton Architects and general statements about ongoing capital planning. No published 5-year capital plan with projects, years, and costs exists for voters to review before May 5.
The Board did approve the second year of a four-year nonrecurring expenses plan for the two elementary schools in April. That’s one multi-year project at two buildings, already in Year 2 of 4. It’s not the comprehensive 5-year plan Pach is citing. Board Policy Series 3000/3110R sets the reserve target at 2% of the operating budget. For FY27, that’s about $1.09 million against a current balance of $2.35 million. By Pach’s own math, the plan she cited commits at least $10 million over five years.
This is the wrong order. The Board set a 2% reserve target. They are holding twice that. Now they want voters to add another $600,000, justified by a 5-year capital plan they cannot show us. Voters cannot approve what they cannot see. What are the projects? In what year? At what cost? Has the Board adopted it? These are the questions any Board of Finance would ask before approving a multi-year capital reserve. The proposed budget doesn’t answer them. Public boards aren’t required to publish capital plans. The well-run ones do.
Vote No on May 5. Ask them to show their work.
Eric Nunes, Killingworth
