My February 28th post discusses the 2003 Hamblen County Audit---the first audit performed by state auditors after years and years of local, private auditing.
All of a sudden with the 2003 audit, the county got a resounding wake-up call that emphasized the lack of accountability that has marked the handling of county finances for years.
The state auditors pointed out that record-keeping was lax (or non-existent) , money was missing, checks were written where there were inadequate funds, money was shifted around without county commission's knowledge or approval, accounts were overspent, and the Mayor and his Finance Department spent money that had never been brought to county commission for approval.
I was not surprised in the least at the 2003 findings. Why? Because as a citizen and as a new county commissioner, I had actually gone through the 2002 audit and previous audits. As a commissioner, I tried (unsuccessfully) to get other members of the audit committee to listen and to really look at the audits as well. Click here on 2003 audit findings to see Hamblen County audit findings section on the State Comptroller's website.
Would county commissioners look at the 2002 audit? No. Did they have any questions about the 2002 audit? No.
Audit Chairman Maudie Briggs told me that if I had any questions, I could try and get them answered on my own. I prepared questions, and I tried to get them answered. Had anyone asked the obvious questions about the 2002 audit like I did or had anyone asked to see the responses (and non-responses), then the 2003 audit might have had fewer findings because some changes could have been made before the fiscal year 2003 ended.
With questions and answers on our own, the county could have been further down the road to accountability instead of having to wait for the state auditors to tell us what the local auditors would not tell us--there are no checks and balances, certain individuals and officials have assumed that they can spend taxpayer money as they please rather than within the legal budgeting process, and there is little or no accountability in the handling of the county's finances.
Some of the questions I asked were just commonsense questions that seemed very obvious:
I asked about the fact that the 2002 audit showed that money was spent out of some funds (like the county drug fund and the special revenue fund) but those funds had no "budgeted spending" or appropriations that had been approved by county commission.
I was never told why expenditures had been made and who was spending money without approval by county commission. The 2003 audit, however, explained loudly and clearly why no one would answer that question. Spending that money without approval or appropriation by county commission was a violation of state law. All monies spent by the county must be budgeted and approved by county commission.
I asked whether all legal fees of $83,558 as shown in the 2002 audit were solely for the county's part-time attorney Rusty Cantwell. I was told, yes, that this amount was "only Rusty." When I then pulled financial records about legal charges, it appeared that the answer that I was given was not correct and that about $54,000 was paid to "Rusty" (Mr. Cantwell) in 2002 with large amounts going to other attorneys. Is there a different county financial record somewhere? Obviously, I don't know that. All I can do is go with what I am given as the spending record.
I asked for clarification about several items. One item I asked about was shown in the 2002 audit as "other charges $97,305." When you see huge spending labeled as "other," it's common sense to ask what it's for. The answer I got was that "other" spending was "miscellaneous through county executive."
Yes, the answer to the question is that "other" really means "miscellaneous through county executive." And that answer was supposed to help explain and clarify where $97,305 went? Yeah, sure! Perhaps it's nothing. Maybe the "other" or "miscellaneous" spending of $97,305 was perfectly legitimate. Then why didn't the Mayor or the Mayor's Finance Department just explain or provide an itemized list of what "other" or "miscellaneous" spending of $97,305 was? That's the simple and accountable way to address a question about county spending.
I won't go on with details about the other audit questions. Most of the other answers were about like the ones I have discussed. As is often the case with financial questions, a lot of the questions were just ignored or the answer was one word: "error."
IF someone, anyone, had bothered to look at the 2001 audit that practically screams "misleading financial data" or if someone, anyone, had looked at the 2002 audit and taken the time to ask questions or to listen to the questions of those who did look at the 2002 audit, then we all could have worked together to straighten out the county's financial mess more quickly.
As it is, trying to go down the road to true openness and accountability has been difficult because there are some officials for whom accountability is a foreign word.
The officials who don't know the meaning of accountability are the same officials who consistently react with anger and resentment when financial questions are asked and who are upset that their financial playhouse (playpen) has been rearranged (at least a little bit) since the state auditors came in. The officials who resent the word accountability are the same ones who are having a tough time adjusting to the law that says that no one person--no, not even the County Mayor-- can spend money or switch money around without the approval of county commission.
Unfortunately, in 2004 the transfers of money by the County Mayor continued and even accelerated. Why didn't switching money around stop in 2004 since the 2003 audit had pointed out that that these actions were illegal? One reason is because audits are done after the accounting year is over and after all the money has already been switched or overspent. I guess you could say that auditors come in after the milk has already been spilt and they report that you spilled the milk and they tell you that you shouldn't do it again.
So what will the post on the 2004 audit show?
More shifting of money.
Why? The Mayor told the auditors that he was shifting money back to try and correct hundreds of thousands dollars worth of payments that the Mayor and his Finance Department paid out of the wrong accounts going all the way back to 1999.
How much was incorrectly paid due to 4-5 years of paying money out of the wrong funds and accounts? About $360,000.
Was county commission asked to approve the transfers as required? No. Was county commission even told that the transfers and corrections were taking place. No. How did county commissioners finally find out about the switching of money? They read about it in the audit--after the money switching had already taken place.
Why wasn't commission told what was going on and asked to approve the transfer? No official response.
Did anyone ask why the transfers occurred and what was being corrected? Yes, I submitted that very question through the Audit Committee.
What was the response from the County Mayor? The same tired old response he gives to just about every financial question. No response to the actual question, just lots of angry words and red-faced attacks upon the person who asked the question.
Click here to see my post of August 31, 2005 for the County Mayor's response to questions that were asked about the 2004 audit--questions that included my question asking what money was switched around and why. You can also access this post and other previous posts by looking at the right side of this blog page and then scrolling down to the archives section.
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