See my post of September 13: COUNTY INVENTORY.
After reviewing the 6/30/05 County Inventory, I asked Finance Director Nicole Epps at a September 12 Finance Committee meeting if she would get mileage and condition information for all county vehicles listed on the county inventory. [County Commission passed a resolution almost two years ago that it wanted to have this information on an annual basis.]
Nicole Epps' boss (County Mayor David Purkey) was also at the Finance meeting. After I asked her for the information, she told me that it was not required by the auditors and then her boss (County Mayor David Purkey) said that I would have to ask each elected official and department head directly for that information myself.
Well, I'm not shy about asking for information, so I went ahead on September 13 and began sending out e-mails at about 3:35 pm requesting this information from officials and department heads.
About 45 minutes after I sent out my first e-mail request, I received a copy of an e-mail from Finance Director Nicole Epps showing that she was suddenly starting to request the information for me.
I was surprised by her e-mail since I had specifically asked her on September 12 if she would get this information and her response then was that it wasn't "required" and her boss's response (Mayor Purkey) then was that I would have to request it myself from each department.
I e-mailed her back that I had already started to get the information myself like I'd been told to, and we didn't need to duplicate our efforts.
Let's be realistic. County Mayor David Purkey detests financial questions. Since I ask them and actually follow through to get the answers (from others if necessary), County Mayor David Purkey detests me. He has made that evident in three years of vicious personal attacks.
I think that most of the anger that causes him to blow up so often can be traced to my proposal after taking office to have the state auditors perform the county audit in 2003.
The state auditors came in and suddenly Hamblen County, which had only one audit finding or problem reported by the local auditors in the 2002 audit, had 29 findings of irregularities and violations of state law in the 2003 audit. That was more findings than any other county in the whole state.
Mayor Purkey's anger bubbles to the surface every time I ask a question or try to get information. He even got upset when the full commission asked him to do something really simple--like put a county decal on his county car. Now, why in the world did he blow up and refuse to put a Hamblen County decal on the car that the taxpayers provide for him (along with gas, insurance, and maintenance costs, too)? Go figure.
FORTUNATELY, MOST COUNTY OFFICIALS AND DEPARTMENTS HEADS ARE CO-OPERATIVE, CIVIL, AND POLITE WHEN QUESTIONS ARE ASKED...
In my September 13 post, I mentioned that most elected officials and department heads are responsive and willing to share information about county (taxpayer) property.
Well, I want you to know that one official responded more quickly than anyone could have imagined. Assessor of Property Keith Ely sent the mileage and condition information back on the same day I sent the request. Keith is one of the most open and accessible elected officials around, and he is always willing to discuss and provide information about his office.
I worked with Keith about two months ago when I called him to let him know that I had found what appeared to be a rather large error in the new state-certified property tax rate that the state had sent us and that our Trustee and Finance Department were using in calculating our county revenues and budgeted expenditures. After my call to Keith, he called the state and asked them to review and check our new property tax rate.
The state agreed that it had made an error and sent back a corrected figure that reduced the new property tax rate for Hamblen County taxpayers by 11 cents. That 11 cents meant a total savings to county taxpayers of nearly $1.2 million dollars, and it was all taken care of in one day.
There are several other officials who have already responded to the request for vehicle information: Eric Carpenter (EMA), Danny Young (Planning Commission), and Cyndi Trent (Juvenile Court).
It will probably take a few days for a response from the Sheriff and the Road Superintendent/Garbage Dept. because those are the two departments that have the largest number of vehicles.
There are just one or two other departments that haven't responded yet, but I'm sure they will because, as I have said before, most elected officials and department heads are very open and very willing to share information about county (taxpayer) property.
Showing posts with label County inventory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label County inventory. Show all posts
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
September 13, 2005 More Spending
Check my September 2 post: "Waiting for the other (budget) shoe to drop"
PLANNING COMMISSION
The Planning Commission is going to ask for a 14% budget increase.
The County Commission approved the Planning Commission budget on August 4--in the exact amount that the Planning Commission itself requested.
Yesterday, however, the other budget shoe began to drop as the Planning Commission passed a budget amendment to increase their budget by $32,000. It appears that this request for increased spending may come to the full Commission on September 22 or more likely October 20.
Unless something really unusual happens, the amendment will pass. Two of the members of the Planning Commission are county commissioners (Joe Spoone and Herbert Harville) and voted for the original Planning Commission budget and have already voted for the budget increase as members of the Planning Commission.
The Hamblen County Commission passed a deficit county budget on August 4--meaning we expect to spend $460,000 more than we expect to take in during fiscal year 2005-2006. See my post of August 5. This Planning Commission amendment increases spending by $32,000 but may be accompanied by a prediction of increased revenues due to higher charges that have been implemented for fees and permits.
COUNTY INVENTORY
I just received a copy of the county inventory as of June 30, 2005. I don't want to comment too much on it at this time--except I will tell you that there are huge differences in the inventory reported 6/30/05 and the inventory reported on 6/30/04. Some of the differences are expected and are the result of reporting new equipment, vehicles, and items that were purchased in the 2005 fiscal year. But a large part of the difference can be traced to inaccurate reporting on the 2004 inventory--lots and lots of county equipment that should have been on the 2004 inventory was somehow "left off" and is just now showing up on the 2005 inventory.
When I asked whether there would be any report on mileage and hourly meter readings for vehicles and equipment as requested by the full commission almost two years ago, the Finance Director stated that GASB (that's "governmental accounting standards board") doesn't include mileage and condition in inventory reports. Of course, GASB wasn't even part of the discussion. I simply wanted to know if the Finance Director would send out an e-mail or request to department heads to include the mileage and condition information with the inventory. She did that last year for every department except the Sheriff. The County Mayor, who was sitting in a chair on a back row, answered and said if mileage information was desired, I would have to ask each department for it. Again, "don't ask and I won't tell/ Do ask, and I still won't tell."
I remember, when commission was discussing buying new patrol vehicles a few years ago, Commissioner Joe Spoone said he'd like to know about the mileage on the old vehicles that we were replacing. There is obviously a difference in, say, a 1999 vehicle that has 50,000 miles and the same vehicle with 125,000 miles. You might consider trading in the high mileage vehicle but not the low mileage one regardless of the model year.
That's why finding out and keeping up with how many miles are being put on county vehicles is important.
I'll keep you posted on the response as I ask for the vehicle and equipment information today and tomorrow.
.
Thus far, I have found that most department heads and other elected officials are quite co-operative when a commissioner or citizen asks a question.
There are only a very few who get upset when questions are asked and who resort to personal attacks on those who ask questions about public money and public property.
Most officials know that citizens pay the bills, and citizens have a right to know how their money is being spent.
PLANNING COMMISSION
The Planning Commission is going to ask for a 14% budget increase.
The County Commission approved the Planning Commission budget on August 4--in the exact amount that the Planning Commission itself requested.
Yesterday, however, the other budget shoe began to drop as the Planning Commission passed a budget amendment to increase their budget by $32,000. It appears that this request for increased spending may come to the full Commission on September 22 or more likely October 20.
Unless something really unusual happens, the amendment will pass. Two of the members of the Planning Commission are county commissioners (Joe Spoone and Herbert Harville) and voted for the original Planning Commission budget and have already voted for the budget increase as members of the Planning Commission.
The Hamblen County Commission passed a deficit county budget on August 4--meaning we expect to spend $460,000 more than we expect to take in during fiscal year 2005-2006. See my post of August 5. This Planning Commission amendment increases spending by $32,000 but may be accompanied by a prediction of increased revenues due to higher charges that have been implemented for fees and permits.
COUNTY INVENTORY
I just received a copy of the county inventory as of June 30, 2005. I don't want to comment too much on it at this time--except I will tell you that there are huge differences in the inventory reported 6/30/05 and the inventory reported on 6/30/04. Some of the differences are expected and are the result of reporting new equipment, vehicles, and items that were purchased in the 2005 fiscal year. But a large part of the difference can be traced to inaccurate reporting on the 2004 inventory--lots and lots of county equipment that should have been on the 2004 inventory was somehow "left off" and is just now showing up on the 2005 inventory.
When I asked whether there would be any report on mileage and hourly meter readings for vehicles and equipment as requested by the full commission almost two years ago, the Finance Director stated that GASB (that's "governmental accounting standards board") doesn't include mileage and condition in inventory reports. Of course, GASB wasn't even part of the discussion. I simply wanted to know if the Finance Director would send out an e-mail or request to department heads to include the mileage and condition information with the inventory. She did that last year for every department except the Sheriff. The County Mayor, who was sitting in a chair on a back row, answered and said if mileage information was desired, I would have to ask each department for it. Again, "don't ask and I won't tell/ Do ask, and I still won't tell."
I remember, when commission was discussing buying new patrol vehicles a few years ago, Commissioner Joe Spoone said he'd like to know about the mileage on the old vehicles that we were replacing. There is obviously a difference in, say, a 1999 vehicle that has 50,000 miles and the same vehicle with 125,000 miles. You might consider trading in the high mileage vehicle but not the low mileage one regardless of the model year.
That's why finding out and keeping up with how many miles are being put on county vehicles is important.
I'll keep you posted on the response as I ask for the vehicle and equipment information today and tomorrow.
.
Thus far, I have found that most department heads and other elected officials are quite co-operative when a commissioner or citizen asks a question.
There are only a very few who get upset when questions are asked and who resort to personal attacks on those who ask questions about public money and public property.
Most officials know that citizens pay the bills, and citizens have a right to know how their money is being spent.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
September 2, 2005 Waiting for the other shoe to drop
What's ahead on the accountability front?
Hamblen County's deficit budget that I spoke out against and voted against on August 4 is going to come back to haunt us sooner than we think.
The Planning Commission will probably come back at some point and ask for more money. (Commissioners Herbert Harville and Joe Spoone serve on the Planning Commission)
Gas prices: It may be time to look at the county's vehicle use policy and possibly eliminate take-home privileges for some vehicles. Departments hopefully are already eliminating anything other than absolutely necessary travel. Families are certainly being forced to cut back and eliminate unnecessary travel and trips. Let's make sure the government does the same.
County Inventory: The county's fiscal year ended June 30, 2005. The Finance Director indicated that she would have the county inventory ready by September 1. This is a multi-page document that lists each department and then the county vehicles, tractors, computers, desks, chairs, and other county-owned equipment assigned to that department.
I asked some questions after reviewing the 2004 vehicle inventory. In 2004, the inventory did not show a vehicle assigned to the Juvenile Court Department even though the county budget in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 had appropriated money to the Juvenile Court for the lease-purchase of a vehicle. (The car purchase had been placed in the line-item for "office equipment" but that is another audit story for another day.) I checked with Juvenile Court and they do have a Ford Taurus for transport. Maybe the Juvenile vehicle is listed in another department's inventory like the County Mayor's car is or maybe it was left off the county's inventory entirely.
In another strange twist, the car that County Mayor David Purkey drives is apparently listed in Sheriff Otto Purkey's inventory. Since there is nothing in Mayor Purkey's budget for gas, insurance, and maintenance of a vehicle, I guess the gas, insurance, and maintenance for the Mayor's vehicle also comes out of Sheriff Purkey's budget.
There may even be a car or cars (that are not undercover vehicles) that are not listed in any department's inventory.
The state auditors require that the county maintain an inventory as part of the audit process, but the state auditors don't go through our inventory and check that every vehicle, desk, and computer is listed. The accuracy of the list itself is the county's responsibility. This is another example where local officials have to be paying attention and asking questions in order to provide the accountability that the citizens deserve and that the officials, in our system of checks and balances, are elected to provide.
The inventory problem ties in with other recent questions about the 2004 audit. In the 2004 audit, the state auditors reported that the County Mayor switched money (over $360,000) from fund to fund without coming to county commission for approval and without even informing commission of his action. The explanation that County Mayor David Purkey provided to the auditors was that after consulting with Trustee Bill Brittain and Finance Director Nicole Epps, he (Mayor Purkey) ordered the shifting of money (over $360,000) to correct errors in past years and to "restore" those funds to their proper amounts.
The obvious questions that local officials should ask are exactly what errors happened in the past? Was revenue put in the wrong funds or were expenditures paid out of the wrong funds or both? Were these truly mistakes? If so, how did these errors happen-- by Mayor Purkey's own admission -- for years without detection? Were these employee errors or a problem with our accounting system or both? What has been done to make sure that this isn't still happening and that it won't happen again in the future?
Aren't those the questions that you would ask if it were $360,000 of your own money? What happened? How did it happen? If it happened for "years," exactly what has been done to keep this from happening again? It reminds one of the famous Watergate question posed by Sen. Howard Baker: "What did you know and when did you know it?"
Hamblen County's deficit budget that I spoke out against and voted against on August 4 is going to come back to haunt us sooner than we think.
The Planning Commission will probably come back at some point and ask for more money. (Commissioners Herbert Harville and Joe Spoone serve on the Planning Commission)
Gas prices: It may be time to look at the county's vehicle use policy and possibly eliminate take-home privileges for some vehicles. Departments hopefully are already eliminating anything other than absolutely necessary travel. Families are certainly being forced to cut back and eliminate unnecessary travel and trips. Let's make sure the government does the same.
County Inventory: The county's fiscal year ended June 30, 2005. The Finance Director indicated that she would have the county inventory ready by September 1. This is a multi-page document that lists each department and then the county vehicles, tractors, computers, desks, chairs, and other county-owned equipment assigned to that department.
I asked some questions after reviewing the 2004 vehicle inventory. In 2004, the inventory did not show a vehicle assigned to the Juvenile Court Department even though the county budget in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 had appropriated money to the Juvenile Court for the lease-purchase of a vehicle. (The car purchase had been placed in the line-item for "office equipment" but that is another audit story for another day.) I checked with Juvenile Court and they do have a Ford Taurus for transport. Maybe the Juvenile vehicle is listed in another department's inventory like the County Mayor's car is or maybe it was left off the county's inventory entirely.
In another strange twist, the car that County Mayor David Purkey drives is apparently listed in Sheriff Otto Purkey's inventory. Since there is nothing in Mayor Purkey's budget for gas, insurance, and maintenance of a vehicle, I guess the gas, insurance, and maintenance for the Mayor's vehicle also comes out of Sheriff Purkey's budget.
There may even be a car or cars (that are not undercover vehicles) that are not listed in any department's inventory.
The state auditors require that the county maintain an inventory as part of the audit process, but the state auditors don't go through our inventory and check that every vehicle, desk, and computer is listed. The accuracy of the list itself is the county's responsibility. This is another example where local officials have to be paying attention and asking questions in order to provide the accountability that the citizens deserve and that the officials, in our system of checks and balances, are elected to provide.
The inventory problem ties in with other recent questions about the 2004 audit. In the 2004 audit, the state auditors reported that the County Mayor switched money (over $360,000) from fund to fund without coming to county commission for approval and without even informing commission of his action. The explanation that County Mayor David Purkey provided to the auditors was that after consulting with Trustee Bill Brittain and Finance Director Nicole Epps, he (Mayor Purkey) ordered the shifting of money (over $360,000) to correct errors in past years and to "restore" those funds to their proper amounts.
The obvious questions that local officials should ask are exactly what errors happened in the past? Was revenue put in the wrong funds or were expenditures paid out of the wrong funds or both? Were these truly mistakes? If so, how did these errors happen-- by Mayor Purkey's own admission -- for years without detection? Were these employee errors or a problem with our accounting system or both? What has been done to make sure that this isn't still happening and that it won't happen again in the future?
Aren't those the questions that you would ask if it were $360,000 of your own money? What happened? How did it happen? If it happened for "years," exactly what has been done to keep this from happening again? It reminds one of the famous Watergate question posed by Sen. Howard Baker: "What did you know and when did you know it?"
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