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If this current situation does result in a Caruolo action, the city will lose for precisely the reasons that the editorial explains -- the schools have been basically level-funded (the same city allotment year after year), and the city can not accuse the school department of fiscal mismanagement.

(Not that Merolla and Solomon won't try, as noted in the editorial.)

The city also can't argue that the city's tax base could not absorb higher taxes to pay for the schools -- they just raised taxes again this year after passing the maximum tax hike allowed by state law last year.

One thing the editorial does not mention is that the council refused to pass a tax increase two years ago (the FY18 budget) that would have raised $7.1 million in revenue -- and instead spent part of the $24 million surplus (at the time) to cover the budget deficit they created.

Trying to stall the 2019 audit and raiding the surplus to cover their irresponsible budget are further cases against the city, not for it.

This is a self-inflicted 'crisis,' and if the mayor and city council think a Caruolo lawsuit will find anything different or result in anything other than a loss for the city, they are sorely mistaken.