An Expensive Way

To Stamp Out A Debt

To the Editor:

My granddaughter, who is a senior at the high school, recently received a letter in the mail informing her of a charge that was due on a library book that was returned late. The notice asked her to remit five cents for this late charge. The mailing cost for this letter, as indicated by the postmark, was 49 cents. I’m not an accountant or economist but it seems to me that spending almost ten times the amount of an uncollected debt in order to collect that debt makes no sense. I don’t know how many similar letters were dispatched by the high school, whereby the cost of attempting to retrieve late charges far exceed the anticipated revenue.

I am sure that the computers that generate these notices can be programmed to execute only those letters where the overdue charges exceed the actual mailing costs. I would also question why such notices need to be mailed to the students at all, instead of being distributed in school.

Our school budget has been cut dramatically from what was originally submitted and next year’s budget process may be even more challenging if the economy worsens. Teachers have been cut and several programs scaled back or eliminated. The school board and administration need to focus strongly on eliminating waste and adopting cost saving methods in every area possible. If their system of collecting overdue library fees is an example of how serious they are about belt tightening and efficiency, then I’m afraid they have learned nothing since the last referendum.

George Caracciolo

Schoolhouse Hill Road, Newtown                                     June 6, 2009