Letter to the Editor: Mayor Winnecke Shell Games

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Letter to the Editor: Mayor Winnecke Shell Games

Mayor Winnecke has spent his time as Mayor playing a Shell Game with Evansville’s finances, hoping we don’t catch on.

With each passing year, the “Shells” gets bigger and bigger, with more money being moved and shifted around so we, the public, don’t realize the true financial situation Evansville faces.

He can hide the “Shell Games” from the citizens, but he can’t hide it from the State Board of Accounts.

According to the SBOA 2014 Audit:

“Although the General Fund showed a balance of $307,140 as of December 31, 2014, the fund would have shown a deficit balance of $5,888,660 as of December 31, 2014, if not for the following items:

  1. The Wastewater Utility prepaid the 2015 payment in lieu of taxes payment totaling $2,428,000
  2. The City did not pay the General fund’s portion of hospitalization bills for the 3rd quarter of 2014 totaling $3,767,800.”

In reality, we began 2015 $5,888,660 in the hole.

Mayor Winnecke is borrowing tomorrow’s paycheck to pay for today’s bills.  And with each passing year, the amount he has to borrow grows higher and higher.

This type of action, much like it is in our everyday homes, is unsustainable.  We simply cannot continue to treat our finances this way.

I call upon Mayor Winnecke to have a frank and open dialog with the citizens of Evansville about the true nature of our city’s finances.  We cannot continue to shift and move money around, playing accounting tricks, and deceiving the public about our true financial situation.

These certainly are not the actions of a #StrongCity.

Thank you,

Matthew Neville
Evansville

 

FOOTNOTES: Our next “will be posted on this coming Wednesday ?

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10 COMMENTS

  2. Weinzapfel did lay the foundation for our economic mess. Not only did Winnecke not complain about the situation he inherited, he has accelerated the insane spending. It’s time to get off Weinzapfel’s folly and put the blame for the city’s finances on the people who have been in charge for over four years and will be there for another four years.

  3. New fees under the Winnecke regime to get in the museum and fees coming to ‘hike the trails or see the nature center’ in Wesselman park. Water costs about to skyrocket. Can fees to squish through his beloved dog park be far behind? Maybe the quality of life venues they often refer to aren’t for everyone, only those who can pay. I realize the mayor is very well insulated from any complicity in these new charges, an important talent. The little Vaudevillian should wear the striped suit and straw boater of a song and dance man as he struts the ruins.

    That was a damning audit that should have woke up the dead. Maybe the fee tsunami will rouse a few. The Evansville electorate craves lies and misdirection rather than the brutal truth, they voted for it and got it. Most were probably barely aware, if at all, that there was an audit. Any stray concerns have been easily allayed by soothing words from those carrying Winnecke’s message for him to that block of ordnance gelatin that will give him a 3rd term.

  4. Mayor Winnecke to deliver State of The City of Evansville today

    http://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/local-news/mayor-winnecke-to-deliver-state-of-the-city

    No one will be there to challenge the mayor on the city’s financial reporting, or the city’s use of Brownfields Corp. to take care of cronies with public funds, or where the money will come from for the EPA mandate. Just a bunch of Chamber members and city execs slapping each other on their backs, and the so called “media” dutifully regurgitating what Winnecke says without vetting any of it.

    • Mentioned some penguins coming down on Mesker Zoo. Said Amazonia’s doing fine, why I don’t know, he’s already got Butterfly McGinn’s vote locked up, ‘Fly declared that going in. Didn’t mention the tainted audit. Blamed the sewer mandate on the EPA and proudly said he ‘dug in his heels’ and was one tough negotiator. Got our liabliity down to around ¾ billion, they just got sick of his foot stomping. Didn’t mention the tainted audit. Said the stink in the Bee Slough area would soon abate, a sop to the Yellow One and ‘her’ ward. He’s already got her vote too. He eagerly anticipates those state windfalls and can’t hardly wait to spend them. No mention of the SBOA audit. Trotted out Hall, mohawk and all, as the savior of Evansville hockey. Failed to mention VenueWork’s incestual ownership of the bush league ‘team’. No reference to the recent audit, which actually says a lot. Did willfully say we are going to get that dog park, never doubted him for a minute. On that.

      A state of the city address should address the state of the city. That would very much include its financial health. Winnecke spent some time dwelling on those large chunks of money coming his way from Tropicana pre-pay and the state’s regional cities thing. Tossed out some pie-in-the-sky numbers about how much money the Jacobsville TIF district would generate and the protected bikeway in store for that resurging area (1st protected one in the city!!). No mention of the bad audit…

  5. Congratulations to the CCO for providing the latest shenanigans of our city Government thru “Is It True” column! Expouser of the previuos administration continues to “trickle down” thru the same gutters of the present group in charge of games played with city finances …..shoving $$$$$ from one account to cover another ! Real cool audits sooth & disappear into dust…never to get mentioned again!Then like the Brownfield “private” group , who do hide behind “non profit label”and closed doors…..but use our tax payer monies and have the gall to tell us …….they do not need to share their spending habits with us??? Seems like our “city leaders & extensions of” are following along with the “jokesters” in DC! At least we readers can set down with our morning coffee & with the CCO …. start the day with a continued “local comic strip” provided by the DOWNTOWN FOLLIES GUILD! Keep up the good work CCO! You are our hope of a silver lining to real journalism as it should be!

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