Report: $200,000 spent to check up on Sonny Mares' credit card bills

[idlewind]

TDC Credit Card Review View attachment 19208

I guess my next question would be doesn't the TDC do an annual audit? If so, why wasn't these problems identified prior to paying 200,000 in additional funds for them to be found? And who is the CPA that does the regular audit? Shouldn't they be on the hook for some of the 200,000 needed to discover their shoddy work?

thanks Bob Hudson for publishing the review.

 

[WaltonIsOne]

And I bet ya they plead poverty and sing woe is me this budget time because the county is "broke." Same ole same ole. And the crazy thing is they all keep getting reelected.

The last thing that the BCC could claim is that the county is "broke".
In fact, if the county employees and the BCC were to claim this, it would be laughable.

A fact not known by most county citizens is that as stated in the 2009 County Annual Report, the county has a $74 million reserve (i.e. Slush Fund). The 2010 County Annual Report has yet to be posted on the Clerk of the Court's web site detailing the current value of the county slush fund.

That money would be put to better use by the taxpayers that originally paid it to the county government to begin with.

One of the main problems our county has in terms of financial transparency is that the reports released by the county's financial director and the Clerk of the Court are very "thin" in the financial details. Either this is intentional, or the county just does not have the right people producing these financial reports.

If you were to examine the content of these financial reports to attempt to understand the county's financial situation and where the money has gone, it would be similar to trying to unravel a ball of rubberbands.

 

[Andy A]

Regardless of whether we have the "right people producing these financial reports" or not, someone must be doing something closer to right than wrong if we have a $74 million surplus. It may require better management, but it sure isn't a situation like so many areas in the United States. A great deal of thanks goes to the WCTA and the fine work they do regarding the spending of our tax dollars.

 

[Bob Hudson]

The last thing that the BCC could claim is that the county is "broke".
In fact, if the county employees and the BCC were to claim this, it would be laughable.

A fact not known by most county citizens is that as stated in the 2009 County Annual Report, the county has a $74 million reserve (i.e. Slush Fund). The 2010 County Annual Report has yet to be posted on the Clerk of the Court's web site detailing the current value of the county slush fund.

That money would be put to better use by the taxpayers that originally paid it to the county government to begin with.

One of the main problems our county has in terms of financial transparency is that the reports released by the county's financial director and the Clerk of the Court are very "thin" in the financial details. Either this is intentional, or the county just does not have the right people producing these financial reports.

If you were to examine the content of these financial reports to attempt to understand the county's financial situation and where the money has gone, it would be similar to trying to unravel a ball of rubberbands.

The 2010 CAFR has been on the Clerk of Courts site for over a week,

The General Fund balance in unrestricted (available for expenditure) is only 14 million. The balance of the General fund (total balance of 25 million) is either nonspendable, restricted, committed or assigned.

14 million is not much in reserves for an entity with a budget of this size.

View attachment 19210

 

[Andy A]

So I guess the $74 million quoted is now a bogus figure due to the passage of time and occurring events since 2009. We still have a slight surplus and that is unusual.

 

[idlewind]

So I guess the $74 million quoted is now a bogus figure due to the passage of time and occurring events since 2009. We still have a slight surplus and that is unusual.

Where did the other 60 million go?
The questions just multiply.

 

[Bob Hudson]

Where did the other 60 million go?
The questions just multiply.

Just because you see a figure listed on a report does not mean that you understand what the number means.

The balance of the number quoted is restricted, committed or assigned for purposes such as beach renourishment, paying for projects that cross accounting periods, etc.

The only "unrestricted funds" ( available for whatever purpose the Commissioners decided). The balance in the funds are unavailable. You have to pay contracts etc that cross years.