Budget deficit a recurring problem

The Lakewood School District is swimming in a sea of red ink — again.Officials hoped the tide was turning on district finances. They thought there was a surplus of $250,000 for 2006-07. An audit report told a different story. It revealed a deficit of more than $1 million.This fiscal fiasco is just the latest one for the district. In 2001, a budget-busting $4 million deficit resulted in a state-township bailout, with the state forking over $3 million to the district on the condition that the Township Committee provide $1 million. Two years later, another school district deficit surfaced, accompanied by another bailout by the committee.Lakewood taxpayers are smart enough to know that the money is coming out their pockets. School officials, however, apparently have not figured that out.Deficits, trouble with pension and Social Security payments to the state and frivolous purchases of office furniture are just a few of the controversies that have plagued the district.
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