At the October 8th Buffalo City Council meeting the Board of Alderman was presented with a proposal for King Coltrin of Great River Associates to write us a grant. You can view the discussion HERE beginning at time stamp 48:08.
During the discussion I made a motion to table the matter until we had read the grant application. There was no second and the motion died. The council then approved to pursue the grant and pay $600 to have it written, without having seen what the restrictions or requirements would be. At the meeting I was told by Mr. Coltin to go to MODOT's website and look up "LPA Transportation Enhancement Applications." This is what I found. 2012 Transportation Enhancement Program
The first thing I noticed at the bottom of page four, under the heading "Important Information for Applicant" was that this is not actually a grant. "This program reimburses the project sponsor for costs incurred. It is not a grant and does not provide money up front." The city of Buffalo will have to have $300,000 up front to spend and then be reimbursed.
The next thing I saw was, "All projects will go through a competitive bid process for the majority of the construction. In some cases, a portion of the construction may be done by volunteer or public forces." The city has been able to save a considerable amount of money on the Locust Street project by hiring city employee's to do the work. This has allowed the city to not pay prevailing wage... This is the same idea proposed to be used for future projects... including this one. Any projects we intend to use these funds for will have to be bid out. Yes we may be able to do a portion of the work ourselves but I think this clause rules out doing the entire project "in house."
I haven't read the entire application yet. These are just a few things that jumped out at me as things the council may have wanted to consider before voting to spend $600 of taxpayer money to submit an application... All it would have taken was an email with the link to the information I've provided, or a printout included in our council packet...
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Follow Up Report On Budget & Spending...
On September 24th the Buffalo City Council met and voted 5 to 1 to pass an ordinance to revise the budget for the fiscal year 2011/2012. I questioned the process and was told the budget was revised for departments that went over budget. When I noticed that some departments had not gone over budget, but still had their original amounts raised I asked why. The police department with an original budget of $404,859 was revised and raised to $429,477. The actual spending did not go over the original budgeted amount so the first answer to my question did not make sense...
(You can view the transcripts of these meetings in previous posts on this blog.)
The next answer I was given was the police department budget was raised because we purchased police cars. At our city council meeting on October 8th the administration wanted to clarify the spending questioned at the previous meeting. This is the report given...
"I would like to take this opportunity to explain how I came up with the budget adjustments that were proposed at last month's meeting:
a. The $40,483 that was left for the Mayor to determine the best use for was transferred to: Administration Capital of $3,900 (two computers and artwork), Police Department Capital of $2,050 (Records management system which discussed with the Board in January), Animal Control Capital of $3,300 (rebuilt engine), Fire Department Capital of $2,136 (pager and radio), Community Center Capital of $4,500 (2nd coating for outside of building.) That left $24,597.
b. The Board authorized the following which were not in the original or revised budget: Nuisance enforcement approved in April of $3,504 (Administration wages and benefits), kennel assistant approved in July of $4,215 (Animal Control wages), Durango approved in June of $12,595 (Fire Department Capital), Community Building painting approved in October of $4,800 (Community Center Capital), Repairs to Airport Building of $6,636.37 which were approved in June and August (Airport Repairs increased by $5,500), Concession Stand/ Restroom approved in July at an estimated cost of $30,000 (Park Capital). Those items total $60,614.
c. Overspending in the following departments: Animal Control supplies were over budget with the August bills ($3,000 increase), Pool electricity was over budget with June bills but netted it against wages, O'Bannon Center supplies went over budget with June bills ($500), O'Bannon Center electricity went over with September bills ($1,000), Park supplies was over budget with the June bills but netted it with concessions and trophies, Maintenance of Old Park went over with the June 25th payment of bills ($1,800), Vehicle maintenance in Park went over budget with the May bills ($1,000). This total over budget was $7,300.
d. In order to close the budget year $52,628 had to either be cut from someone's budget or revenue increased. Therefore sales tax was raised by $12,000, Police Department benefits were cut by $5,432, Street Department wages was cut by $16,311 and benefits by $9,843 and the Fire Department capital was rounded up by $263."
I do not see any mention of POLICE CARS in the administrative report. If you watch the September 24th video HERE (time stamp 14:42), you will see the whole conversation revolved around those police cars. At one point Mayor Mead actually says "and that probably.. the police cars... the program for the police department was something that probably... most likely came out of that discretionary fund." (time stamp 23:18) Mayor Mead was under the impression that he had authorized the purchase of the two police cars through the mayors discretionary fund. This would tack on an extra $30,050 to his discretionary spending bringing the total up to $45,936 which is over the budgeted amount. Why was this omitted from the report?
The total amount AS OF AUGUST 2012 spent on Capital items in the General Revenue was $81,917.06. I don't have the totals for the year because the board was not given the same financial information for September that we've received every other month. I am assuming the amount will be more, as there will probably be bills from the concession stand in the September actual's.
I do have an update on the inventory for Park Concessions. I was given a stack of papers that included, receipts and daily counts of items. It will take me a day or two to figure up the profits or losses on concessions based on the information I was given.
As I am given more financial information I will continue to post updates on what I find.
(You can view the transcripts of these meetings in previous posts on this blog.)
The next answer I was given was the police department budget was raised because we purchased police cars. At our city council meeting on October 8th the administration wanted to clarify the spending questioned at the previous meeting. This is the report given...
"I would like to take this opportunity to explain how I came up with the budget adjustments that were proposed at last month's meeting:
a. The $40,483 that was left for the Mayor to determine the best use for was transferred to: Administration Capital of $3,900 (two computers and artwork), Police Department Capital of $2,050 (Records management system which discussed with the Board in January), Animal Control Capital of $3,300 (rebuilt engine), Fire Department Capital of $2,136 (pager and radio), Community Center Capital of $4,500 (2nd coating for outside of building.) That left $24,597.
b. The Board authorized the following which were not in the original or revised budget: Nuisance enforcement approved in April of $3,504 (Administration wages and benefits), kennel assistant approved in July of $4,215 (Animal Control wages), Durango approved in June of $12,595 (Fire Department Capital), Community Building painting approved in October of $4,800 (Community Center Capital), Repairs to Airport Building of $6,636.37 which were approved in June and August (Airport Repairs increased by $5,500), Concession Stand/ Restroom approved in July at an estimated cost of $30,000 (Park Capital). Those items total $60,614.
c. Overspending in the following departments: Animal Control supplies were over budget with the August bills ($3,000 increase), Pool electricity was over budget with June bills but netted it against wages, O'Bannon Center supplies went over budget with June bills ($500), O'Bannon Center electricity went over with September bills ($1,000), Park supplies was over budget with the June bills but netted it with concessions and trophies, Maintenance of Old Park went over with the June 25th payment of bills ($1,800), Vehicle maintenance in Park went over budget with the May bills ($1,000). This total over budget was $7,300.
d. In order to close the budget year $52,628 had to either be cut from someone's budget or revenue increased. Therefore sales tax was raised by $12,000, Police Department benefits were cut by $5,432, Street Department wages was cut by $16,311 and benefits by $9,843 and the Fire Department capital was rounded up by $263."
I do not see any mention of POLICE CARS in the administrative report. If you watch the September 24th video HERE (time stamp 14:42), you will see the whole conversation revolved around those police cars. At one point Mayor Mead actually says "and that probably.. the police cars... the program for the police department was something that probably... most likely came out of that discretionary fund." (time stamp 23:18) Mayor Mead was under the impression that he had authorized the purchase of the two police cars through the mayors discretionary fund. This would tack on an extra $30,050 to his discretionary spending bringing the total up to $45,936 which is over the budgeted amount. Why was this omitted from the report?
The total amount AS OF AUGUST 2012 spent on Capital items in the General Revenue was $81,917.06. I don't have the totals for the year because the board was not given the same financial information for September that we've received every other month. I am assuming the amount will be more, as there will probably be bills from the concession stand in the September actual's.
I do have an update on the inventory for Park Concessions. I was given a stack of papers that included, receipts and daily counts of items. It will take me a day or two to figure up the profits or losses on concessions based on the information I was given.
As I am given more financial information I will continue to post updates on what I find.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Letter From An Alderman...
I recently submitted a, "Letter To The Editor" of the "Buffalo Reflex." Unfortunately the financial information became jumbled in the process and it's actually incorrect in the printing of the paper... I believe this was my error not the Reflex's. I had to revise and shorten the letter and in the process of cutting and pasting I jumbled the numbers. In an effort to clear this up I am re-posting the letter here. My original letter had to be revised because it was quite long so I'm also posting the full length original letter.
My point in writing these is to bring awareness to the people in Buffalo. I tried to show this to the council and mayor. It was partially ignored by half of the council and the mayor. I have concern's that if we continue down the road of deficit spending the inevitable conclusion will be to raise taxes. As a citizen I don't want to pay higher property taxes... I'd rather address the problem and find ways to cut spending, not ignore the problem until it's too late.
Revised Letter to the Editor October 3rd 2012
My point in writing these is to bring awareness to the people in Buffalo. I tried to show this to the council and mayor. It was partially ignored by half of the council and the mayor. I have concern's that if we continue down the road of deficit spending the inevitable conclusion will be to raise taxes. As a citizen I don't want to pay higher property taxes... I'd rather address the problem and find ways to cut spending, not ignore the problem until it's too late.
Revised Letter to the Editor October 3rd 2012
I would like to begin this letter by saying I am a human
being. I am imperfect and have been
known to make mistakes. If I have made mistakes in the process of coming to the
conclusions that I’ve arrived at, I will gladly receive courteous correction. I
love Buffalo and want to see our community grow and prosper. We can only
achieve our goals if we work together, respectfully and honorably.
Prior to the September 10th city council meeting
I was looking over the information I received in my council packet. Included in this packet was an ordinance
proposal from our city administrator to “change the budget section to how it is
being done.” When I looked up the current ordinance I found that the Board is
supposed to review expenditures and estimates from the past 2 fiscal years.
These findings led me to request the actual data on revenue and expenditures
for 2010 and 2011. I am not an
accountant and the printout’s I was given were not easy for me to understand. I
simply took the total revenue line and subtracted it from the total expenditure
line. These numbers are only in regards
to General Revenue.
2010
Total Revenue +$1,042,787.21
Total Expenditures -$1,128,180.77
Difference -$85,393.56
2011
Total Revenue +$1,113,080.22
Total Expenditures -$1,239,330.38
Difference -$126,250.16
As of August 31st 2012
Total Revenue +$1,002,837.95
Total Expenditures -$1,196,727.25
Difference -$193,889.30
At our September 24th meeting I had more
questions in regards to why the 2012 budget was being revised. I am a new
alderman and I won’t learn if I don’t ask questions. I was told we had to raise
the budgeted amounts to match what we actually spent if we went over budget. My
next question was then, why did we raise the budgets for departments that did
not go over budget and why did we take one category and dissolve it into the
other departments without accounting for where it went? The answers I was given
did not answer my questions and some questions were outright ignored. It was
evident that the council did not understand the budget, some members thought
we’d actually cut the budget when in fact it has risen $64,140. It only appears to be smaller because last
year’s deficit spending used up half of the reserves. We started our budget
work showing a deficit of -$66,650, and by the time the budget was passed we
had a surplus of $2,950 in spite of the fact that we spent considerably more
than we brought in. How can that be?
How can I represent the citizens who elected me if I am
not given honest answers to my questions and adequate financial information? I
am committed to work for the well being of our town. I will not quit asking
questions and trying to make educated, responsible decisions. I want to achieve
our goals for the future but I am not willing to manipulate and lie to people
to do this. We should work together as a team respectfully, and be open and
honest with the public. Sowing seeds of discord within the community is not
going to lead to unity.
In my goal to keep this letter as brief as possible, I
have left some things unsaid. It was not an effort to mislead. You can view the
city council meetings or read the transcripts by visiting www.buffalomoic.blogspot.com. If you do not have
internet access I will gladly make you a copy of the transcripts. 417-770-5005.
Original Letter
I would like to begin this letter by saying I am a human
being. I am imperfect and have been
known to make mistakes. If I have made mistakes in the process of coming to the
conclusions that I’ve arrived at, I will gladly receive courteous correction. I
do not believe that I have insulted any individual in the process of sharing
the information that causes me concern. If any individual takes offense to my
questions and desire to promote open and honest government, I am sorry but my
allegiance is to the citizens who are affected by said government. I love
Buffalo and want to see our community grow and prosper. We can only achieve our
goals if we work together, respectfully and honorably.
As a new alderman, I was of the mind that the city had money
to do a lot of things that just weren’t being done. I had been going to town
hall and city council meetings before I was elected and from hearing the “talk”
at these meetings, I made an uneducated assumption. When you sit in a meeting and hear the city
has $700,000 in a fund just sitting around it is frustrating when you look
around and see needs not being met. I was also of the mind that we had a mayor
that wanted to do wonderful things in Buffalo and the board of alderman refused
to support him. This assumption was also not completely accurate.
When the Board of Alderman began working on the budget for
the next fiscal year, we were given budget work papers that consisted of,
proposed revenue and spending for the 2013 fiscal year, the budget amounts for
revenue and spending for 2012, actual spending as of July 24th 2012
and a list of capital requests from department heads. The expenditures in this
original budget work exceeded the revenues by $66,650.00. During our first
budget meeting I was still of the mind that the city had money to do a lot more
than it’s doing. I did not understand what the “carryover” was in the budget. I
was also being told that our city administrator is “one of those coupon people
and just doesn’t want to spend any money.” You can view the budget meetings
online and see that I was asking questions and trying to understand. What began
to cause me concern were the answers given didn’t answer my questions.
At the second budget meeting on August 27th, I
questioned the parks concessions. I asked why the city did not keep an
inventory for this category. My understanding is we should have a list with
cost of goods sold, total sales and remaining balance of inventory. When I was
told that they did this I asked to see it. I was given a list from 2008 and
2009 that wasn’t even an inventory.
The board was also given a detailed list of expenditures
from the Street and Parks departments. This list consisted of the 2012 amount
budgeted along with the actual spending as of July 31st 2012. At
each monthly council meeting we are given a financial statement that includes
the budgeted amount for spending and revenue, along with actual's for the month
and year to date. When I compared the detailed expenditure lists with my July
end of month financials, I noticed the numbers didn’t match. For instance the detailed list said we had
spent $20,134.78 on supplies and materials as of July 31st 2012. My
monthly financial report said we had spent $18,645.75 as of July 31st
2012. When I asked why this was, I was told
the detailed list included the bills that were paid in August. I then asked the
question, “So this is not actual spending as of July 31st 2012?”
This is the exact response I received, “They’re going to be different because
it does include bills that were paid in August because they were spent in
July.” My conclusion is either the board of alderman is not receiving correct
actual spending amounts in our financial reports every month, or the actual's in
the detailed list were not as of July 31st 2012.
The Friday before our September 10th city council
meeting I was looking over the information I received in my council
packet. Included in this packet was an
ordinance proposal from our city administrator to “change the budget section to
how it is being done.” When I looked up the current ordinance I found that the
Board is supposed to review expenditures and estimates from the past 2 fiscal
years. We had been given just 7 months of actual's from 2012. These findings led
me to request the actual data on revenue and expenditures for 2010 and
2011. I am not an accountant and the
printout’s I was given were not easy for me to understand. I simply took the
total revenue line and subtracted it from the total expenditure line. These numbers are only in regards to General
Revenue.
2010
Total Revenue +$1,042,787.21
Total Expenditures -$1,128,180.77
Difference -$85,393.56
2011
Total Revenue +$1,113,080.22
Total Expenditures -$1,239,330.38
Difference -$126,250.16
As of August 31st 2012
Total Revenue +$1,002,837.95
Total Expenditures -$1,196,727.25
Difference -$193,889.30
At our September 24th meeting I had more
questions in regards to why the 2012 budget needed to be revised. I am a new
alderman and I won’t learn if I don’t ask questions. I was told we had to raise
the budgeted amounts to match what we actually spent if we went over budget. My
next question was then, why did we raise the budgets for departments that did
not go over budget and why did we take one category and dissolve it into the
other departments without accounting for where it went? The answers I was given
did not answer my questions and other times I was given no answer at all. It
was evident that the council did not understand the budget, some members
thought we’d actually cut the budget when in fact it has risen $64,140. It only appears to be smaller because last
year’s deficit spending used up half of the reserves. We started our budget
work showing a deficit of -$66,650, and by the time the budget was passed we
had a surplus of $2,950 in spite of the fact that we spent considerably more
than we brought in. How can that be?
How can I represent the citizens who elected me if I am
not given honest answers to my questions and adequate financial information? I
am committed to work for the well being of our town. I will not quit asking
questions and trying to make educated, responsible decisions. I want to achieve
our goals for the future but I am not willing to manipulate and lie to people
to do this. We should work together as a team respectfully, and be open and honest
with the public. Sowing seeds of discord within the community is not going to
lead to unity.
In my goal to keep this letter as brief as possible, I’m
sure I have left some things unsaid. It was not an effort to mislead. You can
view the city council meetings or read the transcripts by visiting www.buffalomoic.blogspot.com. If you do not have
internet access I will gladly make you a copy of the transcripts.
Sincerely,
Kristie Horn
Buffalo Alderman Ward 1
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