Another $43.2 million in leases = one minute of Board time

On April 15th, this blog contained a review of the leases entered into by the MCPS Board of Education. It turned out that the bulk of the leasing agreements had been executed during the two year term of Board of Education President Nancy Navarro, from December 2006-December 2008. The two year total for leases was over $88,720,855.

Continuing the pattern that had been established during President Navarro's term, in January of this year President Shirley Brandman lead the Board of Education to approve a lease funding agreement that paled in comparison to the prior two years. A lease agreement for $133,022,753 was approved by the Board of Education without discussion. According to the memorandum from Superintendent Weast, MCPS wanted an additional $43.2 million in lease funding for the FY 09 and FY 10 years.

Watch the Board of Education approve this mammoth increase in lease funding on January 13th here. Don't worry, it won't take much of your time. The item starts at 4:16 and is over by 4:17. That's right - one minute of time to incur $133 million in long term debt funding.

The MCPS Board of Education members were apparently so accustomed to approving leases over the last two years, that they didn't even blink an eye at the thought of committing Montgomery County taxpayers to $133 million in debt in January of 2009.

Below is the memorandum from Superintendent Weast on this lease funding agreement.
4.4.1 Master Lease

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