Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley
October 1, 2012
For Immediate Release
I have asked John Friend to schedule a hearing on October 8, 2012, regarding the 2011 audit of the City of Evansville recently performed by the State Board of Accounts. It is my understanding that Councilman Friend has notified the City Administration that the same will occur on the requested date. I believe it is imperative that problems occurring in 2011 be fully outlined, discussed and addressed to avoid a similar situation for 2012 and beyond. I am very concerned that certain problems still exist, and the City’s 2012 audit is at risk for the same disclaimer opinion received for 2011. It seems that the City’s funds must be reconciled monthly. This did not occur in 2011. The funds were ultimately reconciled manually for the year during the month of September 2012, as the software purchased for this purpose and installed in January of 2011 still does not work. With the accounts for 2011 not reconciled until September of 2012, it raises the question of whether the accounts have been reconciled monthly thus far for 2012. Not only must a hearing occur regarding the issues related to 2011, but we must also determine the impact on 2012, and we must do so prior to passing the 2013 budget on October 22nd. We must have certainty as to our accounts before we determine what we will spend in 2013.
Questions that must be answered include when the City Administration became aware of the reconciliation problem, when City Council was notified, steps taken to correct the problems, when those steps were taken, the amount of money spent on outside accounting firms such as Umbaugh, the amount of money spent on this failed accounting software and support, where we go from here in terms of prevention, as well as questions related to the response to other issues outlined in the 2011 audit. It is my understanding that some of the issues outlined in the 2011 audit were also pointed out in the 2010 audit. It is time to address these problems. I believe the general public should also be able to ask questions at this hearing and air their concerns about what is at the very least an extremely embarrassing situation. It is almost unheard of for a disclaimer opinion to be issued by the State Board of Accounts. More importantly, the tax payers in our community are ultimately on the hook if there is a drop in our bond rating and the cost of borrowing money rises dramatically.
Although I was not in office in 2011, I take this problem very seriously. It cannot happen again, and there are solutions. I agree with Councilman Friend that the City’s Internal Auditor should report to the City Council instead of the Administration, that there should be sweeping changes related to our Information Technology with regular audits, and City Council should have it’s own CPA to verify that the various accounting rules are being followed. In furtherance of transparency, the internal auditor and City Council CPA’s periodic reports should be made available to the public. At this point, we must take these problems and turn them into opportunities to make local government more transparent and responsive to the community.
I think a public hearing is just what is called for, and it should take place during a scheduled public meeting of the city council in order that it might also be televised and recorded for posterity.
Thank you Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley for supporting such a meeting on this issue.
Amen. Stephanie,you make me proud that I voted for you!
I’ll be at meeting/hearing and hope Russ Lloyd, Jr., Jenny Collins and Mayor Winnenke and his Chief of Staff will be there also !
Will you be bringing your other 5 screen names with you?
Word at the civic center is that the City of Evansville is facing more financial woes. Word is that the Mayor has just imformed city council memebers that the Casino Aztar will have a $350,000 shortfall in 2013! This loss of tax revenue wiil cause financial hardships to the city budget overall.
The city employee are already ready to rebell because the Mayor and his Chief of Staff pushed city council to give their special political appointed buddies a 9.9% raise and this major major audit problem happens.
Civic center employees also are very unhappy about the way Ben Miller is giving special treatment a political appointee working in his department. This is the next political issue that will be aired in public real soon.
In fact, they are saying that the Mayor is a one termer because he has demostrated he hasn’t the ability to lead.
See you at the next city council meeting to watch our appointed and elected leaders leaders try to spin why they hid audit problems from the taxpayers and city employees for so long!
Oh, the civic center employees are extremely pleased with Stephanie Riley’s call for this meeting. Let the sunshine in!
First the downtown TIF district comes up short for their share of the revenue to service the arena debt, and now the boat is coming up short on their revenue to service said arena debt.
Do the booths at the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival collect food & beverage tax?
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Press…
I believe the answer to that question is a resounding NO!
JMHO
I believe they SHOULD be responsible for both sales tax and f& b tax. Non-profits are not exempt.
Keep ur comments clear of the Fall Festival!!! This is the one event in Evansville that helps a lot of organizations and schools. 2nd biggest street festival in the U.S.
This is the kind of mess to avoid Vote NO to CONsolidation!!!!!!!!!!
Well said “Civic Center Mole”!
I have been following you for a long time and must say that your remarks are extremely right on target.
You are providing an invaluable service to the CCO and the taxpayers of this community!
Keep up the great work!
Be careful you don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back!
Can’t wait to watch the upcoming audit hearing on WINN.
Wonder what Connie, O’Daniel, McGinn, Missy and Weaver are going to do to try to protect the Mayor?
Give them hell Friend, Lindsey, Stephanie and DR. Adams!
I would agree there is a high probability that monthly reconciliations have not taken place in 2012 given 2011 was just completed in September.
However, old Rusty Lloyd has the ability to plug and chug by hand when the hounds are at the door. Even if he has to sleep in his suit.
Come hearing time, don’t be surprised when the rumpled one states he has reconciled the year 2012, just like the 2011 reconciliations were compleded upon release of the SBOA’s audit.
Time and time again, political scandals are not caused by the act itself, but the cover-up. This cover-up was a real doozy!
There is no way possible for those who had statutory responsibility to brush this one off. As for as contractors and employees who are not performing goes, that fix is easier.
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Well, like Reagan once said, “here you (we) go again” more and more seemingly cover-ups…Homestead Credit, anyone? As it is understood, Councilman Friend, requested an audit of the Ford Center project, where are we on this??If the records have NOT been reconciled by the prior administration and, according to the CP article, we are under-budget on the project, well, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice……? So, was the project under-budget?….let the audit begin, if not, DEMAND IT!!!
I admire her work, doesn’t seem to mind ruffeling a few feathers. The no questions asked chairs need emptying. Both central commities need new blood.
This pretty well gives the reason so many city politicians decided not to run again.
Once again the good old boys at the Civic Center prove that they can’t play with the big boys.
I was in the supply department of the 2 ships that I served on in the United States Navy.
Not only did we do weekly reports, but monthly reports, quarterly reports and annual reports but we did audits at the same time and complete audits and inventories whenever there was a change in the chain of command.
Once again at the Civic Center the same people have had the same jobs for too long and there is no quality control or inspector general process.
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