During the budget presentation and subsequent discussion, Commissioner Richard publicly challenged the school superintendent’s claim that closing Snowden Elementary School would save $1,760,000 in local funds and called the superintendent’s numbers “false” and “phony.”

Richard said the superintendent was attributing roughly $1,400,000 of the claimed savings to teacher positions that the state pays, not local funds, and argued that county records do not reflect such savings. “With what the superintendent has presented to the county, they are false and they are phony,” Richard said.

The commissioner proposed hiring an outside certified public accountant to examine the superintendent’s cost and savings calculations for the Snowden closure so the board can “see what the real numbers are.” The motion was seconded. The chair called for a hand vote; the transcript records the motion, a second and a vote by raised hands but does not record a roll‑call tally in the transcript.

Others on the board raised additional concerns during the discussion about transportation impacts and student time on buses if students from Aurora and surrounding areas are routed to another school. One commissioner said some students could face bus rides of as long as two hours each way, and another raised concerns that consolidating students into neighboring schools could create overcrowding that would prompt future construction requests.

Staff and commissioners agreed to bring the superintendent and school staff to the scheduled budget work sessions to explain the numbers, but Commissioner Richard said the county could not wait weeks for that meeting and pressed for an immediate outside review.

Discussion vs. decision: the hiring of an outside accountant is a formal board action taken during the meeting (motion seconded and voted on by hand; no numeric tally recorded in the transcript). The superintendent’s savings estimate remains contested pending the outside review and any subsequent explanations provided by school officials.