To the editor:

Another year of budget talks and another year of fraud. Once again our city officials are telling us they plan on spending 50 percent of the budget on education, and once again, the numbers show them as liars.

This year’s total budget calls for $539 million with $151 million allotted for education, which works out to 28 percent of the total.

During last year’s budget farce, the city showed the public the budget allotted 50 percent of expenditures for education. The total budget was $514 million, with $144 million allotted for education, which worked out to 28 percent of the total.

The year before that the City claimed 50 percent of expenditures were for education. The numbers showed a total budget of $508 million, with $196 million allotted for education, which works out to 39 percent. Better, but still not 50 percent, and it shows school funding is decreasing, while total budgets keep increasing.

Is it just a coincidence that our city government is underfunding education while committing fraud? Maybe it is all part of a master plan to create a city where the people just cannot do math.

Chris Dove

Suffolk