The Manhasset School District has confirmed with me that the district has incurred $280 million of unfunded and unaccrued retiree healthcare benefits owed to employees. While I was advised the $280 million unfunded liability was discussed with their accountants at a February board meeting, I do not believe the information has been shared with taxpayers at all, at least not in a comprehensive and meaningful manner. This is starting to sound like the Roslyn School District in so far as an important lesson from the Roslyn School District was when their board was first informed of the embezzlement the school board and the accountants choose to keep the information from the public, which was a mistake.

In a way, our school district is confronted with a similar issue, owing $280 million to the teachers, even with the best of spin, has put the board in a precarious position.

Exasperating the situation, just two years ago, the school board required 11-year-old children to walk a mile and a half to save $50,000 a year. Perhaps the high taxes were never about the "children," as claimed by union advertisements.

In my view, taxpayers were unaware of this $280 million liability that has been building and increasing over the years because either 1) the school district did not know of this liability themselves until recently, which in and of itself is shocking. After all, the school board continually renegotiates compensation agreements with the union, or 2) the school board knew of the $280 million liability but choose not to inform the public.

Some of the events leading to this discovery included a new regulation provided by a "Government Accounting Standards Board" (referred to as GASB), that I personally came across as a CPA. The GASB mission is to regulate the financial information that is provided by government agencies (such as school districts) to the public. In particular, with respect to "Retiree Healthcare" GASB believed retiree healthcare was such a "significant financial commitment" and reported to taxpayers incorrectly. GASB has given school districts our size until 2007, although they encourage early compliance, to inform taxpayers the real cost of retiree healthcare.

I believe a New York Times article from December 2005 has it right, and once the public understands this new GASB accounting regulation " it threatens to propel radical cutbacks for government retirees," warns of "tax increases or eventual decline in the quality of services," and "some government agencies will be forced into bankruptcy."

In closing, retiree medical is serious business that needs to be discussed with taxpayers immediately.

Jack Vivinetto