Oh, River Rouge... Lady Budgetdown opened the check register expecting a little light ledger reading.
The ledger had other plans. 🪶
After reading this article: https://motorcitymuckraker.com/.../condoms-lube-limos.../
I decided to follow the checks. Once I started following the checks, I found $317,713.74 in selected expenditures that made me stop, adjust the spectacles, and start writing things in the margins.
A few of the entries that caught my attention:
• Derrick R. Coleman - $14,929.15 in identified payments across superintendent travel/conferences, board food, office/miscellaneous supplies, celebrations/events and athletic miscellaneous expenses.
• NABSE Conference - $10,824.74 for a group conference payment covering board members, the superintendent and other district personnel.
• Moline Group - $114,340 in advertising payments. Two checks: $54,340 and $60,000.
• Community Recreation - $61,627.46 across 59 register entries, including payments to numerous individuals, entertainment/event companies and other vendors.
• City of River Rouge - $27,865.50, coded by the district as "SUPPLIES - RECRUITMENT."
• Classic Printing & Graphics - $20,897 in payments coded "SUPPLIES - RECRUITMENT."
• Travis Norman - $10,000, also coded "SUPPLIES - RECRUITMENT."
• KAPS Wholesale Food - $24,961.39, coded "CELEBRATIONS AND EVENTS."
• Heart Work Is Hard Work - $25,500, including $21,500 in Celebrations & Events and $3,500 in Athletic Miscellaneous.
• Board Food - $8,162.90 across three payments. That includes $1,394.40 paid directly to Superintendent Coleman, which is already included in his total above.
• Coleman also had $411.15 coded Celebrations & Events, $1,673.93 in Superintendent Office/Miscellaneous Supplies and $200 in Athletic Miscellaneous. Those are also already included in his $14,929.15 total.
And tucked inside that Community Recreation total is a $10,401 payment to Crystal Gardens.
Now, before anyone gallops into the comments with a conclusion I didn't make: a check register tells us that money was spent and how the district recorded it. It does not, by itself, tell us that the expenditure was improper.
But $114,340 for advertising?
Nearly $28,000 paid to the City under "recruitment supplies"?
More than $61,000 under Community Recreation?
Those are precisely the sorts of entries that make this old ledger keeper reach for the quill.
Because sometimes the receipts answer the question.
And sometimes they tell us which question to ask next.
When you follow the checks...
Where does the money lead? 👀🪶
With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown
River Rouge Schools
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