ESSEXVILLE-HAMPTON: FOLLOWING THE CHECK REGISTER
Sometimes following the money answers a question.
Sometimes it creates another one.
I reviewed two years of Essexville-Hampton Public Schools check registers 2023–24 and 2024–25.
One vendor caught my attention: Trane.
Across those two years, the registers show approximately $3.70 million in payments to Trane.
There is some important context.
In 2023, Essexville-Hampton issued $2.67 million in Energy Conservation Improvement Bonds to finance energy-conservation improvements. Trane appears connected to that work.
So the project itself isn't the question.
The math is.
$2.67 million in energy-conservation bonds.
Approximately $3.70 million paid to Trane over the two years reviewed.
That's approximately $1.03 million more than the bond issue.
Why?
The answer may be completely ordinary.
Perhaps additional district funds were used. Perhaps there were additional projects, equipment purchases, maintenance, service agreements or other work outside the bond-funded improvements.
The check registers don't tell us.
And I'm not going to pretend they do.
But a difference of more than $1 million is enough for the ledger to ask the question:
What accounts for the additional payments to Trane?
If there's a simple explanation, wonderful. That's what transparency is for.
I don't lead the receipts to a conclusion.
I follow them to the next question. 👑
With receipts and respect.
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