Friday, March 13, 2015

C. J. Huff explains $29 million loan in simple terms so we can understand

In his latest blog post, Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff explains the need for the $29 million loan the Board of Education approved Thursday.

Because he is aware of his audience, Huff says he decided to tell us in simple terms so we could understand.

Today Joplin Schools Board of Education met once again to discuss financing options to finish our post-disaster reconstruction projects. I could go into detail trying to explain a complicated topic but decided to explain it instead in the following simple analogy.

Let’s say you and your family lived in a $100,000 home. In the night your home catches fire. Thankfully your family is fine, but your home and all its contents are completely destroyed. For the sake of this example, let’s pretend your insurance company paid for the replacement of your home but only on a reimbursement basis. So you hire a contractor, and 12 months later your home is rebuilt and you and your family move back home. Now that construction is complete, you can submit the bills to the insurance company for review and reimbursement. For 4-6 months following your bill submittal, the insurance company reviews your construction costs to make sure you built it back within the parameters of your insurance policy. Finally, 16-18 months after the fire, the insurance company agrees with your bill submittals and issues you a check for $100,000 for the replacement of your home. Where would you get the $100,000 to build your home as you waited for reimbursement?

We need to finish what we started. This short-term financing allows us to do that. CJ

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

"For the kids"

Anonymous said...

Okay, so let's say your $100,000"house" and all of its contents gets hit by a "tornado". Fortunately you have insurance so they will help you rebuild your house. Then let's say you ask your boss for an advance to get you through until your insurance money comes through. Your boss says yes because he is compassionate and you agree to pay him back as quickly as you can.

Then let's say it is time to rebuild your house but instead of rebuilding your $100,000 house you build a $500,000 house, and you run out of money to pay the people that are working on your new house and have to borrow more. What would you say??

I would say, you shouldn't have built a $500,000 house that you couldn't afford. You should have been smart enough to realize that you can't afford a bigger house with the same income. Guess what, now all of our expenses are much higher too. There is heating & air costs, energy costs, more things to fix and more upkeep on the yard.

What is the moral of this story? Don't spend beyond your means. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Goodwill only lasts so long. You boss is calling and he thinks you need to start looking for another job.

Anonymous said...

He better get new insurance that'bs and all of us tornado people know it.

Anonymous said...

Except, you build back a $250,000 home with a tennis court, and you incur ongoing expenses for a staff to take care of you..etc.

Now you use the house as collateral to pay your bloated expenses...so on, so forth.

Mr. Huff. You know nothing about finance. Unfortunately neither does Barr and the rest if you.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that the loan passed! When we have a new board in April, they will have the money to pay his severance and send his ass packing.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Huff assumes that the patrons of this district are as stupid as the Fab Five on his school board. We don't need simple terms, and we can see for ourselves what the problem is. You replaced a high school that was insured for $53,000,000 or so, as I recall, with a high school that cost, at the time of the audit, over $140,000,000. 53 million plus the 62 million (minus what was spent on the middle school and grade schools) doesn't add up to what you had to spend, so you borrowed more. And more. And more again. Did you need that ugly light fixture that looks like an amoeba? No. Did they need that sports complex with deluxe hospitality room/kitchenette? No. Only a small fraction of those students are athletes. Maybe 400 or so, at the most? Did you need a building so ridiculously big that maintaining it is going to run the patrons broke? $60,000 a year to wash the windows alone! The problem, Dr. Huff, is that you overstretched and your board, who is supposed to represent US and not YOU, has failed. So we must send them packing. And we will. And we will resent them for a long, long time. Until you are gone and some sanity and responsibility is restored, we will continue to fight any further attempts to squeeze money from us. Step down, sir, or we will see to it that you are sent packing.

Anonymous said...

Well, CJ, you big dumbass, we don't have any choice but to take out this loan so we can pay off people who have done an honest day's work already. I know you don't comprehend what that means, but it means a lot to the rest of us. But what you don't bother to say is that the whole time this construction has been going on you have wasted millions and millions of dollars on unessential travel and personnel, and your own personal income has increased by over a third. You also don't explain what your plan is should FEMA not approve all of your wasteful projects. What we know is that we will have to provide more cash or see the collateral you put up, which is our buildings, go to the lender. You, sir, are a public menace.

Anonymous said...

@4:32

Amen, and my thoughts exactly. Be the best waste of money R8 has had all along. Send him out of here, and ASAP. Get the kids some books, some discipline, pay the teachers and the staff, and get rid of all the CJ groupies who are living too well at our expense.

Anonymous said...

If you are wondering where our dear leader is for spring break look no further than Florida and the Bahamas.....

Randy said...

If I remember right, he is supposed to be in Tan-Tar-A Monday to talk about Bright Futures USA.

Anonymous said...

These costs should have been part of the original bond issue! Overspending is a serious problem. Don't add them- no money no additions. That is the way most budgets work.