The Lodi Board of Education Increased Its Spending By $21,902,858 (34.1%) in 4 Years. During the Same Period, the Lodi Board of Education Removed Every Previously Implemented Transparency Measure.

2019/20 Budget: $64,319,416

2023/24 Budget: $86,222,274

Increase: $21,902,858 (34.1%)

Nancy Cardone and her board members have made it clear that there is no limit to the amount they are willing to increase spending just so the struggling taxpayers of Lodi CANNOT see any tax reduction.

The Lodi Board of Education should be producing responsible budgets each year with the mindset that State Aid remains flat. Then, when additional State Aid is offered, that serves as relief and offsets the local tax burden.  Instead, the Lodi BOE increases the budgets as much as they possible can and then they increase them even more using every single dollar in additional State Aid.

Serious problems with the Lodi BOE’s reckless spending pattern:

Absent the millions in additional State Aid each year, Lodi would have seen its largest tax increases ever.

Lodi has created a snowball effect like you are seeing in Jersey City.  When State Aid eventually flattens or is reduced, Lodi taxpayers will either see tax increases in the thousands or major budget cuts.

Serious problems with the Lodi BOE’s budget process:

Lodi’s Business Administrator, Nicholas Cipriano, spent a short time in Montclair and left a 3 Million Dollar deficit:

Lodi By The Numbers: Nancy Cardone Started Nicholas Cipriano at $175,000. Previously, Cipriano Was Hired By His Personal Friend in Montclair, Was Employed About 7 Months, and Left a $3 Million Deficit... (lodioverhaul.blogspot.com)

Doug Petty, Dennis Frohnapfel, and Nancy Cardone violated the Open Public Records Act with their refusal to provide the public with a copy of a “Detailed Budget”.

Lodi By The Numbers: What are Douglas Petty and Dennis Frohnapfel Trying to Hide in their 2021-2022 School Budget? (lodioverhaul.blogspot.com)

Doug Petty and Dennis Frohnapfel stated in writing that Board President Nancy Cardone and her team members never once read a detailed budget as they voted for these enormous spending increases.

Summary:  Lodi has seen its largest spending increases in its history.  Board members are NOT reading detailed budgets.  The administration has illegally withheld detailed budgets from the public so members of the public cannot monitor for fraud, waste, and abuse.  Doug Petty was responsible for much of these spending increases probably in a drunken stupor at the Jersey Shore.  Dennis Frohnapfel abruptly left and took more money than anyone can explain.  Matthew Giacobbe has gone over budget by intentionally manufacturing chaos and instability with bad legal advice.