The school district was asked to turn over $114,000 in accumulated interest to the city, a school administrator said this week.
At the July 1 board of education meeting, James Gaskin, the school district’s business administrator, said the request had been made earlier in the day, during a meeting in City Hall with auditors.
Some school board members questioned the request. Apparently the money has been in the board’s possession for years.
“The board of education earned the money so why can’t it go back to the board of education?” school board member Bill Nimons asked.
Nimons said the school district could use the cash.
“It would buy a lot of new text books for children,” said Nimons.
Messages seeking comment were left with Mayor James Della Volpe’s office.
Board members asked Gaskin for further details on the request, such as whether the city has a right to the money and how long it has accumulated.
Gaskin did not give a specific amount of time that the money has been accumulating.
“It has accumulated year after year, month after month,” Gaskin said.
According to Gaskin, there is $25 million in the board of education budget and an additional $5 million worth of grants. He says the interest on the money has been available at least as long as he had been employed by the school district — two years — and most likely longer.
