City Management: Compliance or Non-compliance? By Alan Leibundguth

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3rd Ward Republican Candidate Offers Position Paper

City Management: Compliance or Non-compliance?

The City and County elected officials will soon draft the budget for 2012. There is a lot of power in the purse, so we must be sure that our new budget is transparent. We, the people, need to know that our money, including federal money, is being spent wisely. All accounts and sub-accounts should be open for inspection.

I have taken a brief look at the 2009 Audit of City of Evansville, prepared by State of Indiana auditors in compliance with State Board of Accounts directives. This is Evansville’s yearly report card on where and how it accounts for money spent. This report is public record on the Indiana SBOA web page under resources and reports.

There are 5 discrepancies on the 2009 report, one of which shows 12 accounts had been overdrawn.

I have two reasons for concern here, (1) the City of Evansville, in this report, was cited for violations of state statutes; one has carried over for two or more years. These discrepancies should have been cleared in a timely fashion, and then re-inspected. Has this been done and by whom?, and (2) it seems logical to me that a new budget cannot be correctly prepared with open discrepancies, items that should have been fixed in early 2011. How about first things first? It seems like the City Council should have taken the lead here, fixed the problems, filed the appropriate reports of completion with the State Board of Accounts, and then informed the public of what they had done. Do we have any record of this?

For example, there is a discrepancy in the 2009 report citing that parking meter fees continue to be deposited into the general fund, “As stated in several prior reports” … meaning that someone in City Council has repeatedly ignored this discrepancy which states that these funds are to have a separate account. This is a repeat write-up. Placing designated money in the general fund makes it too easy to spend it unwisely. In a year when every tax dollar counts, don’t we all want to eliminate sloppy management, caring even in the small things, and directing dollars appropriately?

Where has the Evansville City Council been on following this up, since they approve all budgets? Granted this is a small thing, but it may represent a lax attitude of council members with respect to oversight of community revenues. With Democrats in control of the council for the past few decades, are they telling us that this is how they do the business of the city?

I am the Republican candidate for City Council, Ward 3 and I have had experience in the inspections and management of military units. It was my job to know higher headquarter directives and ensure compliance. When discrepancies were found, it was my job to fix them quickly. The military had a good system and it worked well.

I think Evansville government would benefit by changing the way it does business.

I wonder if accounts are still being overdrawn and the parking meter fees are still being deposited into the general fund?

We are Evansville, watch us grow.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. …a valid criticism, if true. Please cite the violations and their monetary amounts as I was not aware of them Thank you HDA

    • UNBELIEVABLE…

      Our leadership operates like a bunch of oligarchs that have way to many post-nominal letters to bother actually getting their hands dirty in details.

      • This is a dead link. Very hard to take you seriously if you cannot even point to a correct and active link. Like a lot of your counterparts (and this online “rag”) you are much ado about nothing.

        • http://www.in.gov/sboa/

          Seems to work if its all lowercase.

          If you were really interested in the content, a quick google search would have taken you less time than it took you to write that very helpful comment.

          • Blowhunter72

            “Helpful”? This looney-tune wants to be elected to the City Council and potentially be in charge of millions in revenue and budgeting and he cannot even provide a simple website link.

            Maybe you should pay closer attention to his “helpful” reply to Dr. Adams! Dr. Adams stated from the start “Please cite the violations and their monetary amounts as I was not aware of them”, but laughing boy shrugged that off and basically told him that if wanted to see the mythical errors to look them up himself. If you and this TeaBagger want to be “helpful”, why not point out to the EXACT line item of discussion where the supposed error is?

            I have zero use for TeaBaggers who run around pointing at others while their hair is on fire, but they never seemed to be “helpful”. Candidate builds a letter to support an ALLEGATION of financial irregularity, but when pinned down refuses to support it.

            Typical TeaBagger

          • Name calling certainly doesn’t help you get your point across.

            I wasn’t taking sides, I was just pointing out that the information is available if you really wanted it.

            I have plenty of respect for Dr. Adams, for what it’s worth.

            If you took a moment away from making up hilarious pseudonyms and name calling, you might find that my views are actually pretty similar to yours.

          • Blowhunter72

            After looking at the audit, maybe TeaBaggers should pay closer attention to the independent audit summary

            “the City prepares its financial statements on the prescribed basis of accounting that demonstrates compliance with the cash and investment basis and budget laws of the State of Indiana, which is a comprehensive basis of accounting other than accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.”

            “In our opinion, the financial statements referred to present fairly, in all material respects, the respective cash and investment balances of the governmental activities, the business-type activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of the City as of December 31, 2009, and the respective cash receipts and cash disbursements during the year then ended”

            So in an 89-page report that outlines receipts, disbursements, and tax issues in a budget of around $200 million dollars he wants to carp about FIVE errors? If you and TeaBagger candidate want to be impressive, go thru the budget and find the errors on your own before an audit.

            Mountain, please meet Molehill

          • “If you and TeaBagger candidate want to be impressive, go thru the budget and find the errors on your own before an audit.”

            I was never trying to be impressive. I was ridiculing your writing style, and personal cutdowns, in addition to correcting the dead link.

            Like I said, our views are probably pretty similar, you’ve just brought the conversation into the mud.

  2. It truly has been 35 years of fiscally irresponsible spending. Want to know why our manufacturing jobs are leaving Evansville? It isn’t because of an elite Republican agenda (because that would require JOB GROWTH), because Republican haven’t had control of the purse-strings.

    What Democratic control (or lack thereof) means for Evansville for the next four years is further job loss, higher poverty rates and more irresponsible fiscal spending.

  3. I went to the recommended website (http://www.in.gov/sboa/. All the Evansville audits I could find there were from 2007. Please give me the specific web address so that I may actually see what you are talking about. And as to Evansville Taxpaper’s comment “Our leadership operates like a bunch of oligarchs that have way to many post-nominal letters to bother actually getting their hands dirty in details.” The letters after my name came hard won..while you doing other easier things of dissipation, I was working my butt off ! HDA

    Reply

    • Evansville Truth = An Evansville Scumbag with at two-digit IQ. Spit the balls out of your mouth!

      • Dear Alan, I am not IT facile, but I did download the City of Evansville’s 2009 audit. The auditor’s summary does not seem to declare obvious discrepancies but perhaps the lingo is obtuse to me. Please let me know what page and paragraph you are referring to so this olde fart can somehow cone in on my failings …and correct them. Thanks Dan

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