Bill Melching was good at what he did as financial watchdog

ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.

As Wayland Union Schools Finance Director Bill Melching rides into the sunset at the end of this month, it should be noted more than parenthetically that he did a terrific job as business manager under difficult circumstances.

Melching, who will be honored Monday afternoon, Sept. 26, at a retirement luncheon at the administration building, inherited a mess when he came on board in the fall of 2010. First, he had to deal with disarray in the business office left by the previous administration and later had to find ways to cope with a shrinking fund balance caused mostly by the State Legislature’s skinflint ways in doling out state aid payments mandated by Proposal A.

Lansing’s “Starve the Beast” approach to funding public education took a toll on Wayland’s fund balance, or rainy day fund, which dropped to as low as 7.27 percent in the 2013-14 academic year, a time when nobody got raises except for the built-in step increases.

Since then the fund balance has shown a steady improvement to as high as 9.3%, but the Wayland Board of Education decided this summer to fund school bus purchases at a good price, so it’s not quite 9 percent now.

Melching could be accused of practicing wizardry in that he oversaw some savings moves with bond programs and was more than up to the task of guiding the district despite the lack of support from the state over the last six years.

It is fact and not opinion that this governor and State Legislature paid out less than 2011 in state aid annually until last year. A year ago the state finally came up with bigger bucks per pupil than five years ago, but only by a slight amount.

So what he did was avoid cutting the savings account while revenue had been stagnant or dropping. For example, just this past summer he came up with procedures that save the district more than $320,000.

Yet another strong point for Melching was his role in setting up and administering the summer free meals program for kids under 18 all over the district, ensuring that children receive at least one nutritious meal each weekday while not in school. He and Sarah Parr Hawkins this past year found a way to reach nearly 9,000 children.

Perhaps many in the community saw Bill Melching as a bean counter and a gruff old curmudgeon, yet he was good at what he did — running the finances of the school district in an efficient and prudent manner. But guys like him are not likely to be popular.

It’s really quite evident that the Wayland Union school district has weathered difficult financial times in the post-Great Recession era. And we need to take a moment to thank Bill Melching for a job well done and wish him well in retirement.