EDITORIAL: ITS TIME FOR ANNA HARGIS TO TAKE ON CITY BUDGET SHORTFALLS

8

ITS TIME FOR ANNA HARGIS TO TAKE ON CITY BUDGET SHORTFALLS

Things don’t seem quite right at our Civic Center these days, They’re especially out of kilter on alternating Mondays at City Council meetings, when 1st Ward Councilman Dan McGinn chairs the finance meetings.  The City Council majority is Democratic, but Council President Missy Mosby (D) chose a Republican retired attorney for that powerful position on the City Council. We wonder what led her to make that decision. Maybe it was to emphasize the “collaborative” nature of her relationship with Mayor Winnecke and his wife.  But to be totally honest we just he don’t understand her thinking in this matter .

When the public tunes in on those City Council meetings every other Monday, they see money shuffled between accounts to cover expenditures, with plans to replace the juggled funds from yet-to-be collected payments.  Whats amazing is that Finance Chairman Dan McGinn rarely questions City Controller Russ Lloyd’s when he states that everything will come out okay in the end.

We can’t help but remember McGinn’s tenure as Mesker Park Zoo Director.  Amazonia was his pet project, he assured us it would turn the zoo’s finances around if we support this project.  We been told that he produced a six-figure cost over-run on the project.  We are now told that the Zoo is losing hundred of thousands of dollars every year, due in large part of the unexpected annual upkeep of the Amazonia.  We now understand why many of our readers worry about Mr. McGinn’s financial judgement.

Also, we can’t help but wonder if Ms. Mosby felt the need to appoint a Republican to be Finance Chairman why didn’t she choose 3rd Ward Councilwomen Anna Hargis.  Mrs. Hargis is a CPA and during last election  she promised  the voters that she will serve as a financial watchdog for the taxpayers but so far has failed to deliver on that promise.  We think its time for Mrs.Hargis to start challenging the deficient spending practices of the Winnecke administration.

In the upcoming 2017 budget hearings we hope that Anna Hargis, CPA will start challenging the city deficient spending practices and do a better job in questioning the continued waste of our hard earned tax dollars.

Bottom line, we have become more concerned about the City’s finances with the passing of every City Council meeting, and urge all of our readers to keep a closer eye on what is being done with our hard earned tax dollars.

We have a gut feeling that the city finances are in bad shape.  We feel that City Council Finance Chairman Dan McGinn or City Controller Lloyd,  Jr may not be giving the taxpayers of this community a true and accurate picture of our financial condition maybe Anne Hargis, CPA will.

 

 

 

 

.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

8 COMMENTS

  1. I am not sure why we should think Hargis would be any more forthcoming about the state of the city’s finances than Butterfly has been. She ran on the Winnecke slate, same signage as Jack Schriber and the rest of that defacto ticket. Her allegiance is not to the voters, it is to the mayor. And he’s still got things to buy. There will be words to the contrary but simply look at their actions.

  2. We are now told that the Zoo is losing hundred of thousands of dollars every year, due in large part of the unexpected annual upkeep of the Amazonia.

    S.O.P. for the city and county. They have always been ready to spend on something new and shiny. But never add in the cost of polish and polisher to the budget. then ten years or sooner they say it needs replacing because of lack of maintenance.

    We have a gut feeling that the city finances are in bad shape.
    When you have to depend on your vices paying for your necessity’s you are in worse than bad shape.

  3. Sources close to the Controller’s office indicate that when Russ without Council’s approval transferred 12.5 million from the Riverboat fund into the General Fund it prevented the GF from going negative by $6 million. Unfortunately, this was clearly noticeable in the Annual Financial Statements that were given to McGinn and Hargis. Now, at June 30, 2016, the GF indicates 3.9 mil but if the 12.5 mil was properly repaid to the Riverboat funds the GF is negative by 8.2 mil ..but Russ Failed to properly transfer 7.5 million into the Hospitalization Fund because that fund is NEGATIVE by 7.5 mill ..where in the hell is Hargis on this ..we understand Butterfly McGinn reasons why he did this but Hargis has NO EXCUSES!!!

    • I miss John Friend and Stephanie Brinkerhoff-riley. Some of the meetings got rowdy, but they kept track of our money. Nobody is doing that now.

  4. She said she’d be a watchdog, but she turned out to be a lapdog. She knows the facts of what is happening in the City finances. She works for the taxpayers, not Winnecke. I believe she has a professional obligation to report discrepancies to the SBOA, doesn’t she? We all know she has a moral obligation to do it.

  5. Continued budget hits to the Zoo will, in time, will put it in the same category as Roberts Stadium, Lloyd Pool and the Amphitheater as “under maintained”.

    • Except for the Mayor’s new pet penguins. He’d throw a tantrum if his penguins got evicted. It’s a “quality of life issue,’ you know.

Comments are closed.