The Vancouver School Board is considering a plan to sell some of its assets–from electronics to furniture–and lease them back in an effort to ease a projected $27-million shortfall this year.
The plan is to sell the equipment to a leasing company that will then lease them back to the school board in multi-year contracts.
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VSB Chairperson Christopher Richardson says the plan will save money in the short-term, but increase long-term costs.
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“It’s like taking your home mortgage and saying, ‘Well, it’s a little bit tight this year, I’m a little bit pressed for cash, why don’t I remortgage the house?,” he said. “There would be a refinancing cost to that and I would have to pay that over a longer period of time.”
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Between the lease-back program and other funds, the school board hopes to cut its deficit to $15 million.
Richardson, who is a certified accountant, says a more permanent solution is needed.
“It should be obvious to anyone that we have a structural deficit. The structure has a deficit. We’re going to have address that and eliminate that. The stress of every year having a deficit of $25 million just isn’t healthy.”
-With files from Ted Chernecki
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