Last week, the Evansville City Council threatened to enforce an unprecedented ordinance it passed earlier this year that would prevent city government from meeting its obligations. In effect, the politicized move – made to coincide with an election – would risk shutting down city government, disrupting services and withholding pay for city employees.
The city of Evansville has approximately $145 million on hand, including $52 million in the general fund. Independent bond rating agencies repeatedly conclude the city has operated in a financially sound, efficient and prudent manner. Simply put, Evansville is on firm financial footing.
But certain members of the City Council want to handcuff the mayor from using the funds available and instead force him to keep the funds unused in accounts where they are not needed. This arbitrarily forces the separation of bank accounts and results in some checking accounts with a large positive balance and others with a negative balance. This ordinance is unprecedented in Evansville’s history and there is no clear evidence of it occurring anywhere else in the entire state.
Imagine having two personal checking accounts, one dedicated to clothes and another dedicated to entertainment. If the entertainment account is temporarily high while the clothes account is temporarily low, common sense says you should transfer some money from entertainment to pay for clothes until the next paycheck. That is, in effect, what city government has done for generations and what the City Council is now refusing to allow.
City Council will now have to approve inter-fund transfers that were previously handled by internal cash flow management. With $145 million on hand the city is not broke, and the funds are there. But City Council members are poised to use their unusual ordinance to avoid making payments and instead seek political gain less than two months before an election. Without the ability to transfer within funds, City Council will withhold the pay of city employees and vendors. Evansville’s residents don’t get to demand ransom in exchange for doing their job. Neither does City Council.
They don’t get to hold our city hostage over settled tradition and policy. They don’t get to refuse payment to hard-working employees because an election is around the corner. That’s not how our municipal government is supposed to work.
City Council’s political, combative, and dysfunctional approach to too many issues has made it impossible for them to effectively govern. Evansville needs and deserves a City Council that is focused less on politics and more on ways to grow our city, create new jobs, and use common sense budgeting. But not under the shadow of these threats to our city.
Pay the bills. Avoid a government shutdown. Evansville is counting on City Council to do the right thing. And we will do everything we can to make sure the next City Council is one that acts in the best interests of Evansville.
Jack Schriber
Candidate for City Council At Large
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Don’t really know this Obvious Administration AK-er, but one conclusion I can draw from his dubious claims in this “kiss fest” penned by him,—he is so FULL OF IT— that his breath has to STINK worse than Bee Slough.
To paraphrase SBR’s Facebook post . . . if the City actually had $ 52 Million in the General Fund, why would it now need an extra $ 8 Million just to pay bills & payroll ? Imagine Winnecke defeated, and a minion such as Jack Schriber getting elected to Council !
Jack: you are a LIAR.
I am glad to see the council working as it should. I am going to be disappointed is a couple more of the “go along with anything candidates” get elected.
I believe the Ordinance questioned by this AK-er only required the Administration to request authority to transfer funds that it previously transferred with impunity and undercover, it DID NOT deny,– it only requires approval of the Transfer by the City Council, — the legislative body charged with the fiscal oversight of the City’s Treasury.
To characterize the Expectations of the Council and the Community for the Winnecke Administration to follow THE LAW– as a “Threat to Enforce”– is Ludicrous, and raises doubt about this candidate’s respect for the Council’s Authority, Responsibilities to the Community ,and The Law . What a Creep!
Schriber seems intent on dismantling the fairly good reputation he had built in this community on behalf of someone who doens’t deserve his help. Lloyd Winnecke is inept and juggles the books. That ‘unprecedented ordinance’ Schriber bleats on about was signed by the mayor. Apparently his signature doesn’t even mean as much as his word, he never meant to abide by it even as he was signing it. Maybe the mayor didn’t really mean it when he signed it. Maybe he saw a veto override coming if he didn’t. Enough dishonesty from this guy, vote him down in November, Evansville’s financial health and reputation are at stake. People like they mayor usually end up taking good people down with them and right now Spendecke is in free fall, running scared and desperate. No accomplishments to point to. Scraping the barrel for someone to carry his water, someone who hasn’t yet blown their credibility by association with him.
This guy is running on Winnecke’s ticket for the council. Winnecke is running people like Schriber and Hargis who do not deserve your vote for a council seat. A vote for Schriber is a vote to give Winnecke free access to every dime in every account, without accountability. A vote to let him rock his dishonesty and profligate ways unfettered by a council he must get through before blowing our money and Evansville’s good name. Our current mayor has shown he is little more than a conman’s mark and not to be trusted with our money.
G-2015-14 is a legally passed and binding ordinance. It is not to Jack Schriber or Lloyd Winnecke’s liking. It was not passed and signed by Winnecke so it could be almost immediately repealed or amended to suit SpendBoy. It was passed to force accountability and sane financial conduct by the city executive. It is time to change city executives.
Bandana, superb post, nice going !
That guys a clown.
His clothing and entertainment accounts analogy is a horrible example. Those are both non-emergency accounts.
What the mayor is proposing (and Easy A Jack seems to support) is raiding your IRA in order to pay your Vectren bill after leaving the AC on 50 degrees all summer. Do it if you must, but don’t think that it will be ok to leave your heat set at 80 degrees this winter.
Minions, good call, Lime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=43&v=yDsMZn3olFw
When in the hell are people going to realize that Winnecke lies and deceives. As of July 31, 2015, the financial statements, the most recently published, indicates approx 178 million . . Wow, we must be rollin in dough . .BUT WAIT, the Winnie has included all of the utility bonds for construction, operations, etc and the bond covenant says that the utility can NOT LOAN funds to any THIRD party while there are bonds outstanding . .well, how much is outstanding . .SEWER = 248,000,000 AND WATER = 97,000,000 as of December 31, 2014 and more have been added during 2015. He has including all of the trust funds . . for instance, the police and fire pensions funds, State and Federal Specified Grants. Once those funds are eliminated, the 178 m goes to 34 m . .so, Jack instead of organizing marching bands and the sort, please get your butt into Finance 201 out at USI. You missed the fall semester but register early to assure a seat in the spring.
If fiscal responsibility is your goal Jack Schriber is not your man. He has spent his career with the number one consumer of tax dollars in Vanderburgh county, the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation.
He was Vince Bertram’s bag man, along with Rudy Montejano, for the $150. million “statigic corporate welfare plan”. If he gets control of the city budget we will be joining San Bernardino very soon. I am sure the ERBC likes Jack, after all it Bertram who implemented their plan to support them through the Great Recession, at your children and grand children’s expense of course.
Maybe Wayne Parke could offer Schriber the open Auditorship. It might allow him to keep a little of his dignity intact.
Old “Easy A Jack” was popular as a teacher because he handed out “A” grades like candy to his students. He learned that people will like you if you never speak a “discouraging word.” I suppose he thinks the path of least resistance is the way to run a city, too. It may work in his former work, but not on CC and not when it involves telling a string of pants-on-fire lies. At least he is showing us what we will be getting if we elect him.
The pic has to be 30 years old and 100 lbs ago.
Taken down because remarks were insulting and personal.
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