City Hall insiders who have been closely following COBI finances assert that the City is strapped for cash and is even delinquent with respect to some of its obligations. There’s enough substance behind these rumors to cause a majority of Councilors to make clear that they will not proceed with major funding decisions until they’ve been fully informed by staff about the status of current City finances. Therein lies the rub. In order for Council to fully understand the City’s current financial status, Staff must provide Council with comprehensive records. Yet Council requests have been apparently met with stonewalling and gag orders. Meanwhile, there has been mounting evidence of a financial crisis, including an admission by Finance Director Konkel that on December 31st the City had no cash on hand, and the fact that the City has not been current with two of its most high profile community support obligations – Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council and BITV. This despite the Mayor making public reassurances of financial solvency and contending publicly at the March 24th City Council meeting that a gag order was never imposed on Staff prohibiting communication with Council members. Meanwhile her department heads and Staff are less than forthcoming with the records that might, or might not, substantiate her claims.
The revelation of a zero cash balance at the close of 2007 prompted a respected local accounting expert and Council watcher to e-mail the following series of questions and observations to Council in March:
1. What happened to the 2nd half of 2007 property tax receipts of some $3,000,000, most of which was received during the last four months of 2007?
2. The year-end Councilmanic bond of several million dollars closed on December 20th or so. Does this mean that all the cash went out the door by December 31st?
3. This kind of cash situation doesn't suddenly come as a surprise when you happen to look at the City's checkbooks in late December. What did the Mayor, Elray, et al know, and when did they know it - especially in light of the November to January budget and Capital Facilities Plan debates?
4. If indeed the City's poor cash position was known by the Mayor, Mary Jo, Elray, etc. in late 2007, it makes the Amba Gale retreat even worse. Something about the Captain and key crewmembers rearranging the deck chairs on the stern, while the ship is steaming straight towards an iceberg.
5. It is clearly time for (a) a near total stand down on capital projects and new hiring, and (b) an audit by a CPA firm selected by the Council.
These rumblings of an impending financial crisis for our City make us wonder about the timing of a recent announcement by the City of a crackdown on unlicensed Island businesses involving a hefty $500 per day fine. This move is particularly ironic at a time when the Administration has been sharply criticized for knowingly allowing its Chief City Engineer to remain unlicensed for two years.
At the March 24th City Council Meeting, Council person Debbie Vancil laid out a series of questions she wants answered by the April 2nd Special City Council Meeting on City Finances and the Winslow Way Streetscape. How much cash does the City have on hand today? Are revenue projections on target? Are expenses exceeding revenue? Without credible answers to these questions, it appears that Council may finally pull the plug on the Administration's spending spree.
(To post or read comments on this story click on 'COMMENTS' below)
7 comments:
Time to get out of Dodge. I sure don't want to be one of the taxpayers left holding this bag.
McCoy seems to expect action from council??? My prediction: finance director will produce something unclear or unreliable, some on council will put up a token fight, Mayor will shake finger at council, staff will glare and it will be back to business as usual.
Look out for yourselves people because it's pretty clear no one else will.
I am so glad that this information is finally starting to get out to the community. We've been hearing bits and pieces of this sort of thing for months and wondering when someone is going to try to get to the bottom of it. With the economy looking sketchy we need answers right now. We have a right to know exactly how much money we have and as our representatives the city council has an obligation to know.
Now, now McCoy, the Mayor never used the word "gag-order".
Shogun writes:
MMA -- let's cut some slack to Real McCoy on the use of the word "gag order." Irrespective of whether Mayor k said "gag order" or if in fact City Attorney Mc didn't run down to get a judge issued "gag order," the term is appropriate and on the mark. No one is talking about a legal case.
Definition of gag order is plenty broad to cover Real's use of gag order.
gag order
gag order
Function: noun
Date: 1952
: a judicial ruling barring public disclosure or discussion (as by the press) of information related to a case; broadly : a similar nonjudicial prohibition against the release of confidential information or against public discussion of a sensitive matter"
Real McCoy has certain editorial rights to use florish and emphasis as Real see fit. And by the way, where is the Review in covering this issue? Where is the Kitsap Sun in covering this issue. Zzzzzz !@!
Shogun,
I wasn't being serious. I about fell out of my chair when the Mayor said she didn't use that word. For me, that was pretty close to an admission that she had said something.
Shogun writes:
MMA -- sorry, I missed your humor because I did not witness Mayor k's statement on "gag order." During these COBI unsettled times (can't remember when they weren't unsettled), I hear many things that should be humor but are said as bold-faced lies.
Speaking of COBI's financial Ponzi Scheme, a meeting today of the Finance Committee was trying to withold BITV's share of the franchise fees/PEG fees until deliverables (recording of Council meetings) was delivered thereby slipping payment by a quarter. Our new fiscal surgeons were adamant about doing this to BITV (clearly punatively) until someone spoke up and pointed out that BITV gets their money from COMCAST on a monthly basis. Best of all COBI Finance Committee members claimed COBI was being run just like a free-enterprise business. Now was that an April Fool's statement or what. I also think the Ponzi house of cards is getting shakey.
Here is something that bugs me.
Last Oct. the council decided to pay $1.7 million for the Williams
property. As part of that, they required that the city sell existing open space land to raise 1/2 the cost, or $850,000. They tasked the Open Space Committee to figure out what properties to sell. Six months later, they have done nothing. They are trying to come up with a "process" for making the decision. Meanwhile, the real estate market has gone down the toilet. You would think that somebody at city hall would have noticed that $850k that they were expecting has no chance of arriving anytime soon, but whatever...
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