Vet: thank you for the enjoyable reply! I think that we agree on more than the surface indicates. Here is something that you might have missed in your other post about the combined Business Manager: Middletown's recent BM earned about $85,000 if I remember correctly from last spring's list of public salaries. Monroe's probably made about the same---I don't remember---plus he had HR responsibilities. Middletown now has food service, custodial/maintenance and transportation contracted out. Monroe has transportation, custodial/maintenance, and---possibly---food service (but I may be wrong about that one). HR will be done by Dr. Lolli according to one article. Each district will pay 1/2 of his $107,500!!!! salary. Mr. Long made 99,000 at Springboro, with responsibility for each of those areas, including HR. His "combined" salary jumped from about $85,000 to $107,500, with far less responsibilities. Each district will have a half-time Business Manager (21/2 days per weeks). Didn't really save anything on that set-up. Maybe 1/2 of $85,000 would have saved some money for .5 employee. chmoore