IS IT TRUE March 6, 2013

IS IT TRUE financial consultant David Garrett has issued his report to the City Council and it identifies some variances in the three large accounts managed by the City of Evansville that amount to nearly $17 Million with the net of the three variances amounting to nearly $7 Million?…that $7 Million is not in the favor of the City of Evansville?…the Winnecke Administration has fired a first volley back stating that they will repudiate Garrett’s findings as being incorrect?…this will be quite interesting because accounting, engineering, and other mathematics based professions really do have a right answer that will eventually be found for all to see?…David Garrett has done much research often with limited cooperation from city officials to arrive at his conclusions?…it is now up to the Winnecke Administration to respond in a timely and accurate way?…given the wording used in the first round of the face off for accuracy it is clear that either Mr. Garrett or the stewards of public money (City Controller’s office) will be proved to be wrong?…quite frankly the Weinzapfel Administration handed the Winnecke Administration a un-auditable PIG IN A POKE when it came to good practice in accounting?…when Mayor Winnecke took office the City of Evansville’s books had not been reconciled for a full year, there was no working software to do accounting with, and those facts were well hidden?…during 2011 and 2012 over $100,000 was spent by the City on CPA firms to fix these problems without success?…it was only when an audit by the Indiana State Board of Accountancy called the City of Evansville out for ineptness that the City Council hired Mr. Garrett to find the variances, the gaps, the failures, and to report on them?…he has done that and now the very people who failed to do this job are crying foul?…if the Weinzapfel Administration and the Winnecke Administration had done their jobs correctly there would have never been a need for David Garrett?…we hope other media will join the City County Observer in objective consideration of Mr. Garrett’s report and the forthcoming rebuttal by the Office of the Controller?…one of these assertions WILL BE PROVEN WRONG AT SOME POINT?

IS IT TRUE that the Ford Center is once again in the news for financial performance and as was easily predictable by the performance of similar facilities there was an operating loss?…the loss was only $281,000 which by arena metrics is not too terrible?…that does not include the approximately $8 Million of interest that was paid out of another pocket for the debt incurred to build the Ford Center?…the operating expense that put the Ford Center from making a profit was a collection of charges by the Building Authority of $1,861,293?…the Building Authority under the management of Dave Rector took down a significant amount of the operating expenses of the Ford Center?…it is time for the management of Ford Center to send the contract for these services out for bid and make the Building Authority earn this money the old fashioned way?…that would be to bid the job, win the job through a fair competition, and then do the job well?

IS IT TRUE it also seems as though there is no plan to do or fund the future maintenance of a capital nature at the Ford Center?…there have been recent reports of dirtiness, little things broken, etc. which do not reflect well on the maintenance crew?…it would be a shame if the Ford Center falls into squalor the way Roberts Stadium, Mesker, the Victory, and the Evansville Parks have?…the City of Evansville really has a terrible track record of taking care of things so this should come as no surprise?…the time to change that is right now and the time to establish good accounting practices is also right now?…when it comes to fixing and counting it seems like the City of Evansville had a municipal lobotomy some time ago?

IS IT TRUE it is being reported that the foreclosure of homes in the USA has diminished from the record rates of a few years ago?…the sale of properties for less than is owed on them (short sales) are making up for the foreclosures though as banks have finally learned that working with underwater homeowners is better than foreclosing and seeing properties devalue and rot?…it only took five years for this lesson to be learned?…this is a good reality to accelerate the adoption of sanity and sustainability in the vacuum created by the real estate crisis?…many of the abandoned homes in Evansville are owned by banks who foreclosed on them?…finding the people of authority in these slum owning banks may be a bigger problem for the landlord registry than tracking down out of town landlords?…we shall see how sharp the enforcement teeth are when it is a big out of town bank getting fined $100 per day for not registering?

IS IT TRUE the landlord registry that was passed by the Evansville City Council last week requiring all landlords to register and provide contact information is now open for business?…it is a FREE SERVICE to any landlord in the City of Evansville who wants to avoid FINES of $100 per day that will start on May 31, 2013 for those who fail to register?…this seems like an awfully large fine in view of the fact that many of the houses that are considered to be the domain of the slumlord are not worth even $10,000 on the open market?…in as little as 100 days (the end of summer) a host of homes owned by a non-compliant slumlords could have more fines recorded against them than the houses are worth?…the first consequence of this landlord resolution may well be a rush of properties that accumulate enough fines to be abandoned to the City of Evansville by their owners?…we have a hard time understanding how a landlord who registers their number to avoid being fined but has a slumlord mentality will do anything at all to assist in fighting crime?…the proof will be in the pudding but for now this still looks like a publicity stunt by the Evansville City Council that may sound great to desperate people but will have no real positive consequences?

IS IT TRUE the Mole Nation is telling the City County Observer that financial consultant David Garrett has distributed his report to the Evansville City Council?…we are endeavoring to get our hands on a copy of the report so our readers can dissect its contents to see just how good of a steward the last two City Administrations and Controller’s Offices have been?…the preliminary buzz is that the sum of the variances identified is nearly $17 Million and the net of those variances is nearly $7 Million?…of course these variances are not in the City’s favor?…there also seems to be a missing sum of cash in one of the departments of over $45,000?…this report will end up in the hands of the CCO and Evansville’s mainstream media soon?…you can bank on the CCO posting it without edit, opinion, or bias for our readers to form an opinion and to follow up with analysis and research to pinpoint the source of this embarrassing problem?…it will be par for the course if most of the other local media will play a youtube video of Ray Stevens song “Everything is Beautiful” instead of publishing accurate reports that show incompetence and arrogance in local government?…a government that oppresses a free press is considered to be a dictatorial propaganda machine?…a free press that willfully goes along with any government spin machine without question is just disgusting?…if it were not for the free and open sharing of information and opinion the United States of America would still be a colony?…when one picks up a pen to publish or a microphone to broadcast they are either part of the propaganda machine or a true free press?…in this case you cannot have it both ways?

IS IT TRUE he SEQUESTER has now entered its 5th day and life in this United States does not seem changed at all?…that even airport officials are now openly stating that the White House made up the story about flights being cancelled to whip up the angry mob to tar and feather a Congress that can’t seem to muster the effort to order coffee?…the only real agenda of the Obama White House right now is to demonize Republicans enough to put the gavel of the Speaker of the House of Representatives back into the hands of Nancy Pelosi?…that being the case we can either tune out or get ready for 20 months of crisis based propaganda without action?…the minimal immediate impact of the SEQUESTER makes the White House look more like Peter of Peter and the Wolf that like a functional governing President of the United States?