IS IT TRUE the People of Evansville Deserve to Know the State of the City Finances and that has been the story behind the alleged recording and selective distribution of the 2012 audit exit interview from the day it was done?…in spite of the fact that the mainstream media has piled on and allowed itself to be a forum for direct character assassination over the course of the last three days until today no recording or transcript has been released to the public at large?…from the Evansville Courier and Press printing that the City County Observer was the recipient of said recording and the publisher of a transcript of that recording without so much as picking up the phone to contact Joe Wallace was simply inexcusable for a newspaper in the family of Scripps-Howard publications?…they did eventually remove all references to Mr. Wallace as secretly and silently as a band of politicians led by then Mayor Weinzapfel and now Mayor Winnecke attempted to take away the Homestead Tax Credit back in 2009?…we will take the removal of that reference by both the Courier and WFIE to be apologies as both pulled the kindergarten journalism trick of being lured into publishing something untrue without even trying to verify the content with a well known source?

IS IT TRUE that Friday’s IIT that outlined how we had not even been called is now the fourth most read article ever in the CCO?…the other three articles are of national interest and were picked up on the wires drawing tens of thousand of reads each?…it is very safe to say that Friday’s IS IT TRUE is overwhelmingly the most read article of local interest since the CCO started?…in spite of the tabloid feeding frenzy of the weekend fueled by the CP, WFIE, and Brad Byrd’s interview with John Friend that was filled with 2nd hand and 3rd hand claims, the reality of the situation is that the status of Evansville’s financial management has been in serious trouble for nearly four years as evidenced by the following:

• The City of Evansville cannot today May 19, 2014 obtain a clean audit and the Winnecke Administration has not balanced the City’s payroll account since he took office, which means that the payroll account has not been reconciled since December 31, 2010

• The State Board of Accounts tried for months to assist the Winnecke Administration in reconciling the payroll account, and they were not successful

• Nearly $2 million dollars has been spent since taking office on software support through Tyler Technology to try to fix a problem that should have never happened if the Weinzapfel Administration had taken an elementary school class in switching programs.

• The City of Evansville will have to begin its 2013 audit with the State Board of Accounts in the next few months without reconciliation from the previous year.

• The failure of the Winnecke Administration to address the problems within the City’s financial records subjects the tax payers to a higher cost of doing business with the outside world and can lead to higher interest rates when we borrow

• The refusal to acknowledge the problems with the City’s financial records continues the cycle of secrecy related to the people’s money as has been carried on for over 10 years now

• To fix a problem, we must first acknowledge it exists, and we are running out of time to prevent a third year without a clean bill of health for the City of Evansville’s finances.

IS IT TRUE today’s press conference called and presided over by Evansville City Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley is a golden opportunity to break the machine that has attacked her every way imaginable over the weekend?…at this point all of the information required to provide the people of Evansville with a good snapshot of what the state of the city’s finances are is out there for those who are inclined to analyze it?…we hope many will and we also hope to see the exit conferences of Indiana city audits recording and released to the public within 30 days for the indefinite future?…the cities and the state need to remember who pays their bills?

IS IT TRUE that until the machine had a meltdown at the thought of the recording or a manuscript being released, there was no reason for anyone who may have had a copy to release it?…the copies that were in places of safe keeping would have stayed that way forever if the final report would have been released in a timely manner AND if Councilman John Friend and others could have kept their silence as every one of those who were preserving the truth for future comparison purposes did?…the reality of the situation is that today’s press conference and the recording itself would not have ever happened if the government of the City of Evansville had done their job in the first place?…today is the day that the chaotically organized and machine led SALEM WITCH TRIAL should end and for the real solution to another legacy failure to be implemented?

IS IT TRUE that the sound did not work on either the Courier and Press or the 14WFIE websites of the press conference?…all we can say about this is how convenient and how expected is silencing a live feed that had over 300 people logged on to listen?…the CCO has had serious log in problems this morning?…we will correct this but isn’t that timing pretty curious?

City Council Member Brinkhoff-Riley Releases Audit Recording

Evansville – Today I am releasing a full, unedited copy of the recording of the March 12, 2014 City of Evansville 2012 audit exit conference conducted by the Indiana State Board of Accounts. The people of Evansville deserve to know this information. The audio recording will be posted on my web page, www.VoteBrinkerhoffRiley.com, immediately.

The state auditors gave the city finances an overall “Qualified Opinion” with “Adverse Opinions” on select portions. A “Qualified Opinion” is issued when accounting practices do not comply with generally accepted accounting principles. The Winnecke Administration’s inability to do basic bookkeeping means that the City of Evansville’s financial records are not acceptable under Indiana law or general accounting principles.

Further, the balances reported on the books are not accurate. A key point raised by the auditors is that Mayor Lloyd Winnecke has not been able to balance the city’s payroll account since he took office. This means the payroll account has not been properly reconciled since December 31, 2010, nearly four years ago. This failure to reconcile the books is in spite of spending nearly $2 million dollars on software support, an extra full-time employee, and consulting fees to outside accounting firms.

The failure of the Winnecke Administration to resolve the problems with the city’s financial records may subject the taxpayers to higher interest rates when we borrow for upcoming projects such as the new hotel and medical school campus. Even more, it shows a striking inability to perform one of the most basic functions of government: keeping track of the money.

I call on the administration to immediately outline a plan for resolving all issues raised by the auditors prior to beginning the 2013 audit and to present this plan to city council for review and approval.

Evansville 2012 Audit Exit Interview Key Points

The city did not properly record payroll funds in 2012; Balances may be incorrect and don’t permit auditing.

City fund balances, including water and waste funds, were not properly reconciled to bank balances in 2012.

2012 funds submitted for audit were overstated due to checks discovered on the outstanding list that had already cleared the bank and incorrect postings to the ledger. Auditors found fund transactions withdrawn from incorrect accounts and random adjustments that were added then later deleted when submitted for audit.

City has failed to design effective controls over preparation of bank reconciliations to prevent or detect material weaknesses, and the City has failed to design effective controls over the postings of payroll funds to prevent or detect mistakes; The City cannot reconcile its payroll account.

City does not do monthly bank reconcilements; Bank shows funds are approximately $500k more than the city balances; Payroll and pension check samplings showed payments in incorrect amounts with overpayments to employees and underpayments to pensioners.