According to an Auburn varsity coach, the Auburn School District “has paid other school areas to let the Auburn teams practice on their synthetic turf.” I didn't know that. Did you know that, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer? And where were these turf rental dollars buried in our latest budget (up 4.5 percent), anyway? As an old Prego tomato sauce commercial said “It's in there, it's in there.”

This coach also stated that “the district would be in a position to charge other schools for use of our artificial turf” and that “this could be a money maker.” If you will recall, we had a past Cayuga County sheriff promise to fill our new jail with federal inmates that would make our jail a “money maker.” So the county built this jail larger then necessary because it would make the county coffers overflow. Oops! Never happened. Promises, promises - and oral promises to boot. And we're still paying for this “build it and they will come” disaster.

If team practices are really needed on cement-like artificial turf surfaces, may we suggest the use of the huge empty GE parking lot? (There are others) Just throw some indoor-outdoor carpeting on this vacant lot and go for it! I'm sure it will cost a lot less than the estimated cost of this artificial turf of $900,000. Maybe the football guys won't get hurt too badly but how about the other sports without all that football armor? And the insurance liability?

And let us not forget that this artificial turf “Field of Dreams” needs to be “replaced every 10 #to, 15 years at a cost of $250,000,” with no guarantee of any state aid. I repeat: you can buy a lot of grass seed for a heck of lot less than $900,000 #- now and in the future.

The state Education Department said that Auburn's 2004 dropout rate was 22.7 percent. And the district just let go a remedial teacher because of a shortage of funds. But they have money in the budget for artificial turf rental for team practices? One must assume that the new proposed artificial turf will help our dropout rate? Well, it has been a hot summer #- or is it the polluted Owasco Lake water?

“Board members are considering whether to put the $13 million capital project to voters in one or two parts, leaving the synthetic turf field proposal separate from the rest,” such as “replacing windows at the middle and high schools with double-pane glass and a leaking roof at the high school.”

We believe that if enough pressure is put on the board for synthetic turf that everything will be in only one proposal for us to vote on because the board will reason that the public will not choose to throw the baby out with the bath water. How can you not vote to replace a leaking roof at the high school or new energy efficient windows? I think they call that a “gotcha.” Stay tuned.

It's your money

Balyszak's column appears Mondays in The Citizen and he can be reached at bfsfinancial@adelphia.net