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
Hi my name joseph stevens i moved here with my family 8. We was living in austin texas and thought that living in a small country town would be safer. Instead people come onto our land every night and steal from us. The police even arrested one caught in the act and didnt press charges. Top it off we own 15 acres that we plan on turning into a orchard out off town yet the police tell us we have to tie up our dogs for people can steal from us and coyotes can eat our chickens. And now we are getting hotline because we have our papered dogs that never hurt anybody around our kids. If there any good people left in buffalo run from this town. I wish i wouldn't have spent my life saving on my land and as soon as i can unload it i am leaving buffalo springfield safer than here and friendly compare to here.
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