IS IT TRUE at last night City Council meeting  5th Ward City Councilman Friend, CPA put the real question forward about the financial statue of our city?
IS IT TRUE that we were astounded to hear City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr response to Councilman Friend’s pointed question concerning the cash balance in the General Fund as of April 30, 2015?
IS IT TRUE that Councilman Friend has been a voice in the wilderness over the last several  years concerning his compassionate pleads to his colleagues and the media to  accept his professional assessment that the City’s financial situation is dismissal state of affairs?
IS IT TRUE that Councilman Friend caught Controller Russ Lloyd Jr off guard when he asked him to state for the record what the General Fund balance was as of April 30, 2015?
IS IT TRUE that Mr. Lloyd seemed to have  shallowed the canary when his reply was,  “ the General Fund is $19 million NEGATIVE?
IS IT TRUE Councilman Friend said, “You mean $20 million NEGATIVE†because the actual number is $19,604,000 NEGATIVE?
IS IT TRUE that Controller Lloyd  Jr turned five shades of gray when Councilman Friend asked him what the General Fund balance was at April 30, 2014, one year earlier and he said he did not know? … then Councilman Friend told Russ that the balance was $16 million NEGATIVE?
IS IT TRUE that Russ admitted  that he has received an advancements against future tax revenues of nearly $21 million in the past two months?  …we wonder If he had’ not  borrowed or got an advancement  would  the VENDORS checks and PAYROLL checks  have all bounced?
IS IT TRUE we can’t wait to see how the main stream media is going to spin this information on behalf of the Winnecke Administration?
IS IT TRUE all we can say about the negative status of the City General Fund is shameful?
The last two administrations were very adept at creating problems that require ever larger tax revenues to fix. Unfortunately most of the taxpayers with money have fled to the county.
As for the local media about Mr Friend’s question, crickets. The first step to fixing a problem is admitting it. That all of our local news media ignores such a big story is amazing to me.
When you are entrusted with the people’s money, and you fritter it away to cover your sins, when you DO NOT GO through the proper channels and use public monies to your own personal gain (to reward your cronies who helped you rig elections) When you pay exorbitant amounts to useless employees who keep your bones in a closet for you?
I hear embezzlement. I hear someone campaigning saying “fiscal responsibility” and laughing out the other side of their mouths-I think anyone who helped these thieves (rigging elections, “losing absentee votes”) win should go to jail with them-
I hear illegal activities. Shameful? Yes and CRIMINAL.
The Fact that–Winnecke and Company,– are Strangling– Evansville, and that no one seems to give a damn,
with apparently no attempt to stop the “fiscal violence” threatening the life and blood of the Community,– it’s Treasury,—- is what’s Shameful.
Evansville’s Epitaph is being written,–“They blew it all on Old Downtown”.
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Well said Crash – and very sad. …
Evansville’s Epitaph is being written,–“They blew it all on Old Downtownâ€.
… and the people watched like it was happening in slow motion. Paralyzed. They helped, even after the train had left the station, by giving the already demonstrably inept mayor a City Council of his choosing.
Don’t let this happen, you can stop it. ⬆︎
How will Gail change it?
Nobody will actually care until the checks bounce.
This is scary. Why hasn’t the city put priorities in order? I have not seen this info in the C&P. I understand that new projects such as the Ford Center and med school help the economy. But holding more debt doesn’t. What about the baseball fields debacles – who paid for this? I am tired of our public officials lying and holding information from taxpayers.
The Ford center transfered tax revenue to select political interest.
How will this foolishness change under Gail?
Worse?
Yes.
It was very disconcerting to read that Ms. Riecken had hired and fired an out of town political operative to be her campaign manager. How hard can it be to lay out your case to be Mayor?
Addiction in itself is not a crime – but the City’s addiction to feel good, self serving, binge spending is raising more than eyebrows. Suspicions are growing that the thin line between a money moving shell game and criminal
culpability may have been crossed.
In this regard: the City does not represent the values of this reader or his peers. We continue – to suffer wave after wave of embarrassing disappointment and downright shame.
The games must cease. Honest, sound, financial policy must be established. I find Mr Friend’s efforts to be helpful but too little – and far too late. It has always been City Council’s power to control the purse-strings.
They have therefore – facilitated this mess.
My hat is off to CCO for bringing the truth about our Homestead Tax Exemption and many other hidden discrepancies into the light of day. Therefore: to Ron and his crew – I tender my sincere and heartfelt
Thank you. …
Friend has some skeletons of his own . . . .like his comments about the 2012 Audit coverup–” weapons of mass distraction” if an investigation were to commence. Bullshit, but Friend and his 8 friends played along, and the whitewash was completed. Is it little wonder that Friend’s failure to expose the crooks is now manifesting itself with the revelation of these disappearing cash balances ? Any chance that the $ 29 Million plug (write down of cash balances) in 2012 is related to the current year financial malaise ?
The ‘mainstream media’ will not have to spin anything re: the $ -20,000,000 General Fund balance–they simply won’t report it at all ! Accounting expert Tim Ethridge, who also works as a part-time editor of the courier and press, has drank the Kool Aid which says that “this (overdrafts) has been going on for YEARS, nothing new here”.
How about the C & P or Brad Byrd’s investigative team go down to City Hall and document, in cold hard facts, how the current negative cash balances and payday loan advances compare to prior years for the last decade ???
Paying the MasterCard with the Visa is standard operating procedure at the Civic Center and has been for years. Ghost is exactly right. No one will make a sound until the checks actually bounce. $19.4 Million overdrawn in the general fund, #BrokeCity.
Agree with your statement Joe, they still have a way out of the hole, however. We’d show’um but We’re not in their stream, so. That combined sewer mess isn’t going away but that’s a truism anywhere in the nations old archaic infrastructure that still prevails. And continues to crumble. There is a solution and its one that builds extreme returns for local municipal revenues as well.
Trouble with that application in Evansville is its inclusion of the whole aspect range of the problem, and that doesn’t just include that mess of a old downtown bailout as the focus point either.
“Watching and innovating, through the models as observed, and correlated and recorded to the mean data as recovered in real time observations and recoveries.”
“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.”
(John F. Kennedy)
But I want us to be just like Owensboro! WAAAAAA HAH HAH HAH HAH. How come we don’t get to be like Owensboro? Uh AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH Uh WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. It’s not fair! You meeny haters! I hate you!
O’bro IS a step up on their riverfront.
Property Tax influx coming in June:
1) Does anyone know the amount of “the June property taxes” which the City is expecting (so we can see how that compares to the admitted $ 21 Million payday loan taken by Russ these last two months); and
2) If we double the property tax expected in June, how will that compare to the 2015 property tax budget (as Winnecke claims he is spending under budget, but not recognizing the revenue shortfall, which of course erodes cash balances) ?
It appears that someone or group of someones needs to do some research to find a good out of state criminal lawyer and start suing the city for incompetence, fund mismanagement and fraud. Might be the only way to straighten this turd bowl of a local government out.
Is it true we are losing a great promoter and ambassador for our community? That finally after all his success and program building Rodney Watson is off to lead Murray State to the big dance?
Popeye Jones for Murray State coach!
Looks like they made a hire. Watson would have led them to championships and packed the house like he does at USI. That man is a tireless recruiter and is everywhere in evansville promoting USI. So much so I bet mark spencer has his eye on him if Marty leaves.
I’m no fan of this administration or certain members of the CC but some context is needed here.
The 2013 budget shows revenue of about $266M of which about a $100M was from property taxes.
If the city gets about $50M in property taxes in June and then another $50M in October maybe a $20M overdraft is manageable, not desirable obviously, but manageable.
Is April/May generally the low point of cash balances in the general fund?
How many times in the last 5-8 years has the city had to do short-term borrowing against future tax revenue?
Is this a common practice with other cities comparable to the size of Evansville?
Does Russ even know the answers to the above questions?
Maybe Pressanykey can chip in with some info and wisdom.
Is Tim Ethridge, Editor of the Courier on the Winnecke payroll. How in the world do you have the City Controller report a $21,000,000 deficit and not one single word written about it. NOT ONE WORD. Where is the local newspaper. Congratulations to the CCO for writing what the Courier won’t.
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