“IS IT TRUE” That The City of Evansville 2018 Budget Is Estimated To Cost $23 Million More

12

IS IT TRUE during the last several years former City Council President and Finance Chairman John Friend, CPA have been warning select members of Council,, members of the main stream media and the City County Observer that the City of Evansville future budgets are heading for a major deficit spending free fall?  …it looks like Mr. Friends predictions was also spot on?

IS IT TRUE we have been told by an creditable source that John Friend, CPA has been contacted by a couple of City Council members asking him if he would look over the proposed 2018 City of Evansville budget?  … they want him to give them advice on how they can balance the $23 Million budget shortfall for 2018?  …they offered to pay him a mere $2,500 for his consulting services?  …Mr. Friend declined their offer?

IS IT TRUE that the proposed budget for the City of Evansville has now been made public and there must be some seriously good things going on in the local economy for such an increase in spending to be proposed with a straight face? …the overall budget has swelled by $23 Million over last year to $368.4 Million which represents an increase of 6.7%?

IS IT TRUE that the biggest cost center on the public dole is the Evansville Sewer and Water Department that is increasing 17% to a total of $164.1 Million at a time that wages are stagnant and brain drain continues to rage?

IS IT TRUE those astronomical increases in the Evansville Water and Sewer Department budget by definition mean that the cost of those services will be going up by 17% too?…if your water and sewer bill today averages $150 per month then you can expect to get your pocket picked for another $25.50 per month?…if you are earning $35,000 per year working for the City of Evansville, your take home pay with a 1% increase will go up by $24,80 per month?…then you will get to fork it all over to the City for your water bill plus another 70 cents?…this is not what one might call upward mobility?

IS IT TRUE when it comes to employees of the City of Evansville the Office of the Mayor is not nearly as generous as they are with other types of spending? … regular old rank and file city employees can expect an increase of a whopping 1% while police and fire will be faced with the daunting task of not spending their 2% increase in all the same place?…both of these wage increases are below the cost of living increase of 2016 and the expected cost increases in 2017?…the unbudgeted reality is that workers at the City of Evansville will have less discretionary money next year than they had this year?…this tradition of getting a little worse off every year continues but the expenses keep going up?

IS IT TRUE that the City of Evansville budget proposal amounts to $3,066 for every man, woman, and child who dwells in Evansville?…on the family level that equates to about $7,000 per household?…that is a big darn tax bill for a poor town to absorb?…there are some debts that are being serviced from the general fund now and none of them were supposed to create undo stress on the city budget?…the biggest offender and colossal disappointment in financial support remains the Ford Center that is budgeted to consume $8.26 Million next year?…that is the same Ford Center that former Mayor Weinzapfel and his handpicked consultants told us would cover its own debt?…this is the sixth year and it hasn’t covered so much as a dime of its own debt yet, leaving the taxpayers of Evansville underwater by $50 Million and counting?…that was and is a bunch of hockey?…Horse hockey that is?

IS IT TRUE we were surprised to find a line item for a Penguin exhibit at the zoo that is guaranteed from day one to lose money?…next year the planned loss is $430,000?…the highly touted spending on sewer repair that increased the sewer and water budget by 17% ($24 Million) is only $6 Million?…we wonder where that other $18 Million is going?…$6 Million is a pittance in the face of a “Billion Dollar Problem” that is going to raise the sewer and water bills by as much as $300 per home?

IS IT TRUE the taxpayers are also paying off an annual debts payment for the new downtown medical school ($2.7M), the downtown hotel ($1.26M) without having any ownership position? …we wonder who are the owners of the hotel and medical school buildings that the taxpayers are paying off the loan notes on?

IS IT TRUE that the two Republicans on the Vanderburgh County Commission voted to raise the LOIT earlier this year? …that the lone Democrat voted no? …it looks like County Commissioner Ben Shoulders (D) understands that the taxpayers of Vanderburgh County don’t want any more tax increases?

Todays READERS POLL question is: Tell us ways that the Evansville City Council can balance the 2018 budget?
Please take time and read our newest feature articles entitled “LAW ENFORCEMENT, READERS POLL, BIRTHDAYS, HOT JOBS” and “LOCAL SPORTS” posted in our sections.  You now are able to subscribe to get the CCO daily.
If you would like to advertise in the CCO please contact us City-County Observer@live.com.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

12 COMMENTS

  1. With Friend having punted on the 2012 SBOA changed audit and not supporting Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley’s act of recording the exit conference/SBOA Whitewash, $ 2,500 fee still seems a bit too high ?

    There are gentlemen who walk the downtown streets all hours of the day and night who are good at managing their meager amounts of money. They would probably advise Council for a little as $ 1,000 and a case of ripple.

    • It continually baffles me that the CCO holds Mr. Friend up as some kind of ‘honest broker’ or taxpayer watchdog, a man eminently qualified to make sound financial decisions on budgetary manners. They seem to continually forget that he was one of the lead folks who smiled and nodded his way through the entire process of hoisting the Ford Center onto taxpayer backs, who gave a big thumbs up to closing fire stations in the pursuit of fun and games spending, and who never said a single peep during the entire Weinzapfel administration when it came to responsible finances. He reinvented himself as ‘the taxpayer’s friend’ only after he had decided to not run for office again, and accordingly had no need to curry favor with the local power brokers who regularly belly up to the public trough.

      Seriously, CCO, the LAST thing Evansville taxpayers need is the (re)involvement of people like Mr. Friend in city finances. The Editor should know better.

      • Thanks DeltaBravo for your spot on comments. Your points are well taken. Over the years we did call Mr. Friend out when it was obvious he was making mistakes.

        Like Mr. Friend or not he does know where the present administration is hiding the money. Over the last several years
        Mr. Friend has predicted that the 2018 budget is the beginning of the financial meltdown for the City of Evansville. So far it looks like Mr. Friend is spot on. This is an developing story.

        Thanks
        Editor

        • Fair enough. I suppose your thinking is somewhat akin to the NSA hiring a former hacker to work for them – – the best person to catch a criminal is somebody who used to be a criminal themselves and is familiar with their ways. Perhaps the best way to catch a politician engaged in shenanigans is by asking a former politician.

          I would still caution that merely knowing where the bodies are buried does not confer credibility or altruistic intents. Past behavior is far more indicative of those qualities, IMHO. As such, it is not so much a question of ‘liking’ or ‘disliking’ Mr. Friend as it is a question of character…

  2. The writer of this column seems to think the city and the water and sewer dept are one and the same. They are not. The city is funded by taxes the utility dept. is funded by your water and sewer bill. The two are not legally supposed to commingle the two incomes. The utility is not part of the city budget. Or at least should not be. Unfortunately the city has been using the utility for a lender for decades. Money that should have been used to repair and upgrade the water and sewer line has been loaned to the city to pay its bills on time. I do not know if these loans have been paid back but I do know the city has been told repeatedly to stop the practice of borrowing from the utility. By doing this the city has been able to hide its shortfalls but the utility has not been able to fully fund its obligations over the decades this practice has been going on. Now the citizens of this city have a broke city and a broken down utility. This problem has taken decades to build up it will take that long or longer to fix. At a much higher rate I might add.

  3. The thing to remember is governments are funded from tax revenue. Tax rates, thr number paying and the needs of a city,state or county are all factors to consider. Compared to a private company where owners has more latitude with wages and costs. You could say the “City” is the biggest employer in Evansville when you look at all the variables. If you make your living from an agency funded by tax revenue, be frugal in your ways

    • While local government spends money like drunken sailors & tells the workers there’s none left for them.

  4. The City spent $14 million on the too narrow North Main Street shopping cart path project with fancy new light-posts. That $14 could have repaired and reopened Mesker Amphitheater.

  5. Dear Editor,

    The 23 million increase in expenditures relates only to the Utility Department . .when you include the City government side of things the total increase is approx 37 million.

  6. Mr. Mack,

    You are correct about the Utility v City Govt, the City Council has the authority to establish only the sewer rates while the Indiana Public Service Commission authorizes the water rates. As most may recall, originally the Administration signed a consent decree to correct the CSO issue over 20 years with an extender of 5 if necessary. The original plan as submitted committed the Utility to spend 540 million but the Affordability Study used only 2% of household income instead of the required 2.5% and excluded the County data which everybody knows is much higher incomes. So, the EPA got a viagra moment and now the expenditure levels are set in at 729 million. Coupled with this commitment and the fact that there are many areas in Evansville where the water pressure is not adequate to operate sprinkling systems and if the State Fire Marshall got wind of this, those businesses would be forced to discontinue operations and of course the Utility would be held responsible for the loss revenues. Most do not realize that the Utility has over 1,300 miles of cast iron water pipes that are paper thin costing an estimated $200 million to replace.

    • @Benedict Arnold:

      1) It is the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) which approves water rate increases; and

      2) Did you say ‘viagra moment’ ? I would like to pay you a monthly fee for unlimited use of that phrase in area bars and taverns !

  7. Hi there, I read through a few of your articles here.
    I did have a question though that I hope you could answer.
    I was wondering, How much salary can a senior police officer earn? My dad says cops
    don’t make a lot but I really want to become one. I would really appreciate any help you could give me!

Comments are closed.