Financial Saga Continues

The city council meeting agenda for Thursday the 26th has been posted and it seems to be continuing the financial mismanagement from the end of September. As you may recall, the city failed to pass a budget or raise taxes and is now in quite a fiscal pickle. The agenda is packed full of financial items, much like the meeting that was scheduled for the last day of September but never happened. The funny thing is that none of these financial issues were important enough to deal with in the first meeting in October. It seemed most important to council to put Rivera in place before attempting to deal with the finances.

So the agenda contains the following items: P&Z and BoA reports (this is important and long overdue and should be a standing agenda item each month), designate bank depository, clean water grants, amend the 05-06 budget (yes, that year is over already but they still monkey with the numbers), adopting the 06-07 budget (a little late and not documented), levying taxes (ditto), EMS and Fire, MISD tax collection, investment fund review, $115,000 security, and expenditure report.

There is no report from the mayor, administrator or any council member. It appears that the silencing of city council continues. Our elected officials are not given a time to express opinions or raise questions without the mayor's permission. Outrageous. Oh and another thing, this has been called as a "special" meeting on the regular meeting night. Confusing? Yes. Competent? No. Is it regular or special? These things matter, just not to the people making the agendas.

A couple of comments on the continuing fiscal crisis and the city's mismanagement of the same. First, why in the world would Dave and Flo be trying to amend the budget for last year? They tried this at the end of the year and were not successful. There is a common misconception that the budget should be amended to reflect actual expenses. This is false and contrary to the wisdom of the Texas comptroller. I have told the council twice now about the comptroller's opinion on this:

• If the amendment will create a new line item, or increase total overall spending, the governing body must declare an emergency before passing the order to amend the budget. The emergency ordinance should explain the emergency and show the revenue or expenditure items affected. The city clerk should file the ordinance with the original budget document and file a copy with the county clerk(s).
  
  Although it has been fairly common practice, the budget should never be amended at the end of the year merely to make all budgeted amounts equal actual expenditures. This gives a false picture of revenue and expenditures. It makes the budget document useless as a tool for planning, control and evaluation. It can mislead the taxpayers and the city council.

The budget is a financial tool to plan the city's income and expenses for the year. Taxes can only be levied to fund the budget, and money can only be spent in accordance with the budget. To spend money not appropriated in the budget is illegal. Florencio Sauceda has done this extensively. His hope has been to spend beyond the budget all year and then cover it up at the end with a budget amendment. The auditor looks at the most recently passed budget for the audit. If he can change the budget at the end, he can help cover his tracks. THE ONLY REASON TO AMEND THE BUDGET AFTER THE FACT IS TO HIDE THE TRUTH. Of course the actual expenses cannot be hidden, but the auditor's report will not reflect the truth of what happened last year if we amend the budget right before the audit. It is akin to changing the grades on all your tests and assignments the day before report cards are generated. Flo wants his report card to look good for his next job even though he failed Finance 101. Council cannot amend last year's budget in good conscience. Any attempt to do this is simply a coverup of failed management. Citizens deserve an accounting by an auditor of what actually happened.

The next irregularity is the agenda item to pass the new budget for this year. First, the budget for this year was established as last year's budget when they failed to pass the new one. In other words, we have a budget already and the proper procedure is to amend the budget. That is a technicality. The real problem is that Lanman and Sauceda have FAILED to produce an updated budget. They did not include any new version in the councilmember's packets before the meeting. Are they still trying to pass the budget fiction that was produced in August? This had $26,000 of phantom Operation Stone Garden revenue that we will not get. It also includes $46,000 in gas company revenue which will not happen either. It also depends on the increased tax revenue that they were planning on with the tax increase. None of these errors have been corrected on paper. It is UNREASONABLE and NEGLIGENT to expect council to pass a budget that is based on old data or to pass a budget with all of these changes made verbally during the meeting. Council and citizens deserve a look at the budget before it is passed. The old budget plan is worthless. A new budget idea has not been generated. We are talking about a change of $100,000 here. And they cannot (or more likely do not know how to) make an updated printout. Which is it? They don't know how to use a computer or they are trying to hide things from council and citizens? Or simple incompetence.

It boggles the mind to watch these two mismanage tax dollars. It makes one wonder about that cozy and symbiotic relationship between the mayor and administrator that results in fiscal mismanagement and an attempt to hide the financial operation of the city from the citizens.

I'll close with a story about the mayor's attempt at a finance committee. Last year the mayor rejected a citizen advisory committee for the budget or finances. He said it was not needed. Boy was he ever wrong on that one. Then he tried to form one after he failed to pass the budget in time. He asked a few people including Carl Robinson and Rudy Garcia to join an "unofficial" committee to help him out. Both declined. They have seen the city's bad faith attempts and did not want to be part of a whitewash of their illegal spending and budget failures.

We need a strong council with the integrity and wisdom to stand up to the shenanigans of Lanman and Sauceda. Council was elected to oversee the city's operation and not to assist in a coverup. Last year's budget should be audited closely, not amended. The budget for this year should be based on truth and reviewed closely by council. Council should demand more from their administrator. Unfortunately, it is not clear who reports to who at city hall.