COUNTY IN DIRE FINANCIAL CONDITION?

Well now here we are two months into the year and the county is in a DIRE budgetary crisis. According to the Judge we are facing a 1.5 million dollar shortfall for the current fiscal year. I doubt that we will be anywhere close to that type of financial situation by the end of the year. Current official figures just do not indicate the Judge is telling the whole truth.

I am not sure where he gets his figures, but somebody is definitely doing some Enron accounting here. The old saying liars figure and figures lie is something most of us have heard many times. I certainly do not intend to say that Mr. Barkemeyer is intentionally misrepresenting the facts, but the manner in which he is presenting the facts does not tell the truth.

Dave is taking monthly totals and combining them to do his analysis of the Milam County budget. This sounds logical, but in fact is not. There are some accounts that are one time payments, such as the local volunteer fire departments and ambulance service, and there are others that are quarterly payments such as the appraisal district commitment.

It does not take rocket science to understand that if you budget say a 200,000 dollar payment for the year, but then make it as a one time payment you cannot include the entire amount in your budget analysis. Although the payment is made one time it is accounted for over the full 12 months not the month that it is paid in. The actual amount to be used in a monthly analysis would be $16,666.67, not the full 200,000 like Dave does.

Another good example is equipment purchases. The Milam County Sheriff’s Department has three cars budgeted for 2011. They will purchase all of them at one time. If they pay 60,000 dollars all at one time for the three cars it still should be annualized over the entire 12 month budget and should be figured at 5,000 dollars per month over 12 months versus a one month expense. I’ll bet Dave will list the full payment as an expense which will skew the budgetary figures even more. That is unless he reads this blog.

So the question is this, is our county’s chief financial officer really this clueless, or is there a method to his madness? I find it hard to believe that a man with Dave’s education and experience is all that clueless. On the other hand a good politician might pump the electorate up by misinforming them and then when everything balances out at the end of the year take credit for what a miraculous job they have done in saving the county from sure financial ruin. Time will tell.

911 FUNDING??? JUST SAY NO!!!

Okay, so the voters spoke in the November elections. From what I gather from the media and other sources their voices said something about limiting government and no new taxes. So do you think they heard them in Austin? From what is going on it looks to me like they are speaking a different language in Austin.

Take, for instance, the 911 fund. In 1987 HB 911 imposed a fifty cent fee on every phone line in the state to pay for the statewide 911 emergency system. This was an act of genius and has done exactly what it was intended to do; develop and maintain a statewide 911 system. It has done so well in fact that there is a surplus in the fund. A surplus that would be more than enough to continue to maintain and update the 911 system as new technology evolves.

Unfortunately the legislators in Austin are looking to use this “dedicated” fee to help balance the budget. Not only do they intend to sweep the current balance of the fund into general revenue to balance the budget they also intend to keep collecting the fifty cent fee under the ruse of 911 funding.

According to some reports they intend “redefine” the direction of the fund and use it in the future as a source for general revenue. Maybe it is not a new tax, but certainly a new use for a dedicated fee.

To make things a bit more complicated some of the larger counties receive their 911 funding directly while other counties, like Milam, get their money through the Councils of Government. To add even more complexity some counties receive the funding while in other counties, like Milam, cities receive the funding. Bottom line is that if 911 is to continue in Milam County Rockdale and Cameron will have to provide the funding.

There is another option though. Simply do not fund the 911 program with local tax dollars. HB 911 provided a vehicle for the funding of this program and that vehicle is still running. We just need to make sure HB 911 continues down the road it was meant for…..funding 911.

If the state decides to sweep the 911 funds and redirect the future revenue that will mean what already is paid for will have to be paid for again with your tax dollars. Can you spell unfunded mandate, double dipping, misappropriation of funds? Hopefully our city and county leaders will have the backbone to just say no to funding 911 with local tax dollars.

IT AIN'T GONNA BE PRETTY

As I read and listen to what Dave has to say I keep thinking I might be able to figure out what he is talking about. He really has me fooled with his budget 101. While he talks as though he is trying to get some important information out he still does not tell you the whole story.

Take his budget briefing on the January 2011 budget. I pointed out several errors last blog that were indicators of how Dave needs to spend some more time with someone who knows something about county budgeting. Some of the line items in his handout just do not add up.

On the expense side of the handout he shows that the line item for the Tax Appraisal Office is more than 40,000 dollars over budget. Dave, the county pays the appraisal district on a quarterly basis, just like the other entities do. Therefore, with the first quarter payment of $58,969.98 being made the county is in fact right on budget.

Similar examples are also in other line items in the handout. Ambulance is quarterly and fire protection is a one time a year payment. So if you take Dave’s figures as accurate the budget won’t be right till December.

Of course he could be simply setting the taxpayers up for the tax increase that lies ahead for the 2012 budget. He might be following the role model of his Austin mentors in trying to use a smoke and mirrors technique so that’s when it is all said and done he can blame someone else for the budget increase.

I have written before about how what happens in Austin will affect us in Milam County. Well hang on folks cause it ain’t gonna be pretty. Last Thursday Senator Troy Fraser spoke to a group of rural County Judges and basically said that dedicated funds were going to be reorganized in the budget and placed in general revenue. Another term for this maneuver is sweeping.

Well that is exactly what your representatives in Austin are going to do in an effort to balance the budget. To me a better term for this sweeping action would be misappropriation of funds. Senator Fraser told the group the state was going to sweep 911 and other dedicated funds to be used in balancing the budget. They will continue to collect the 50 cents per phone line fee under the auspices of 911 funding, but the money will actually be going to the general revenue of the state.

So what does this mean to us as taxpayers? We get to foot the bill if we want to see 911 services continue in the county. There are going to be a lot of other services, if continued, that will be picked up by the local taxpayer as well. Senior citizens, MHMR and many other programs are going to be hard hit.

As the governor continues to define voter id and sonograms as emergencies you have to wonder when they are going to get around to the real emergency at hand. You can be sure of one thing whatever comes out of Austin will cost us on the local basis.

So maybe there is a method to Dave’s madness. Maybe his plan is just like Austin’s. To bring on the smoke and mirrors and try to make us think all is well or at the least find somebody else to blame the problems on.

CLUELESS IN THE COURTHOUSE

I made myself a promise that I would sit back and watch Dave and give him some time to catch on to being an elected official. After all I did spend a lot of time with him after the election discussing various aspects of county government and answering his questions. He has been to newly elected county officials training and new County Judge training, so you figure he would have learned a little something.

I started this blog because I wanted to try to keep folks up with what is going on in Milam County. Lately a lot of my blogs have been about what is going on in Austin, but truth of the matter is that what’s going on in Austin is going to eventually affect the goings on in Milam County.

With all that being said I have reached the stage with Dave and his comments that has me saying in the immortal words of that famous sailor, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”

Now do not get me wrong. I have no ill feelings toward Dave himself, we have actually partied together. Some of you might have seen our picture on Face book. I do however; have a great concern for Milam County government and how he is misstating the facts.

His memos recommending all elected officials come to the Commissioners Court Meeting as it should be considered their staff meeting is bunk. Commissioners Court is for county business not a staff meeting. If he wants to conference with all of the elected officials he should set workshops, and invite the elected officials to join in. By the way Dave, elected officials are not your staff members.

His recent dog and pony shows during Commissioners Court meetings I think are aimed at his solution to what he perceived as a transparency issue. Transparency should involve a clear and realistic view of what is going on. His power point presentations intended to impress the public with his vast knowledge of the county budget are proof of just how clueless he really is.

Take his attempt on Monday February 14^th to demonstrate that the county had collected only 36.40% of the 2010 ad valorem taxes. Dave check your figures. Truth is the county has collected over 80% of the 2010 revenue from property taxes.

If he wanted to report the truth he would have told the audience about the over two million collected for 2010 last November when many of us paid our half payments. Yes Dave that does count for this year even though it was paid last year and therefore shows up as revenue for 2010, the year it was collected.

The facts he presents need to be presented with a discussion of the factors that reveal the actual details of the information he is trying to present. While trying to make correlations to a twelve month budget makes sense it does not reveal the truth in all areas of county government budgeting.

Take indigent health care for an example. His example shows a monthly budget of 1,666.67 as 1/12^th of the total for the 2011 budget year. He fails to explain that there are only nine months left in the Indigent Health Care budget cycle as it operates along the lines of many state agencies on a September 1 through August 31 and not the county’s January 1 through December 31 budget timeline.

By the way Dave as I tried to tell you, and I know the Indigent Health Care coordinator told you Indigent Health is one of those state unfunded mandates and is funded by a set percent of the gross general tax levy. It is not a revenue producing item for the county, and therefore should not appear as a revenue source.

As I mentioned earlier I have no ill will toward Dave and as a matter of fact I felt that he could probably do a good job of serving the people of Milam County. After all he served as Mayor of Cameron and I had the opportunity to work with him on several projects in the past. However, as time goes on I am beginning to reconsider my thoughts as he truly does seem to be clueless.

Milam County in the Black

There have been a lot of numbers being tossed around in the media lately. Various pundits have been touting the budget deficits in the nation, states and lately even in Milam County. Dave Barkemeyer’s first two reports discussed his thoughts on the general fund and the county precinct funds. I need to emphasis “his thoughts,” as what has been said is not all there is to the story.

I also need to give credit to the GOP blog for using numbers, but not using them correctly. In one of the recent blogs the author refers a $700,000 deficit for 2010. The actual final report shows that while the county did not receive all the expected income they did in fact come in under budget to the tune of $556,600.74.

In another incorrect statement in the blog the author refers to a 1.1 million dollar reserve claimed by one of the candidates in last year’s campaign. The actual reserve in the 2010 budget was $930,717.02. There was never any mention made of a 1.1 million reserve, rather the statement of a reserve of just under a million dollars. Oh, and by the way, that is why we build reserves or rainy day funds, to be used as needed.

Now back to Dave’s statement that the county is facing a million dollar plus budget shortfall for the 2011 budget year. The reality is that counties must submit the 2011 budget in mid-year 2010, and the final approval came in September of 2010. The approved budget was based on predicted income for 2011.

Now, that means that the elected officials need to do their job to bring in the money. If the 2011 budget falls short of income you can blame it on over estimation of income or under performance by elected officials. The short fall will depend on a number of factors that only the future will reveal. Let’s keep an eye on the income figures for 2011 and see where the shortages are.

The bottom line is that even with the numbers used by Dave and the GOP blog Milam County ended 2010 with a total of $5,624,470.49 in the bank. Anyway you spin the numbers Milam County was in good financial shape on January 1, 2011.

Jamestown Theory Could Help Balance the Budget

The majority of people today all tend to believe what they see and hear in the media. I mean if FOX says it it has to be true. The real truth is that all major media sources tend to report with some bias. While our local community media sources do a good job reporting unbiased news many of the major news source report with a lean in one direction or the other. Truth is it is not always their fault.

Consider unemployment figures. November 2010 figures for Milam County show an unemployment rate of 10.8%. For the state unemployment for November 2010 was at 8.3%. These figures show county unemployment at the highest percentage ever and state unemployment at the its highest since June of 1992. Guess I should let the reader know that my figures come from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So, how do they come up with theses figures? If you are like me you think these figures are an estimate of people that are unemployed. I know that is what many folks think. In fact these figures represent only the people that are actively looking for a job. Key word here being "actively." We all know that there are a large number of people who are unemployed that really are not looking for employment. Then there are those that actively search until their unemployment benefits run out.

Now this is not to say that all folks unemployed are not looking for jobs, but one has to admit that there are many that do not actively search for employment. Why should they? The majority of jobs that have been created in Texas in recent months are minimum wage jobs. For many, entitlement programs or unemployment pay more. This is especially true if you figure in the cost of having a job. Transportation to and from work costs money, and with gas near three dollars a gallon it costs more today then last year at this time to hold down a job.

As we look to balance the budget getting more people employed will help balance the budget. They make money they can spend money, and this creates sales tax income for Texas. If you pay someone for doing nothing they are more apt to do nothing then search for employment. So why not have them do something in return for their unemployment checks or their entitlement income? There are lots of things that could be required of an individual in return for their taxpayer supported income.

Why not have them volunteer to assist with the many volunteer programs that are out there. Food banks, litter abatement, recycling programs there are many things that a person could do to assist the social environment that pays their bills. Perhaps having to do something in return for their income would increase their desire to find something that pays a little more or something that they might really like doing better.

I do not intend to insinuate that all persons on entitlement programs or unemployment are playing the system. There are many out there that are truly in need, and many that are doing their best to find employment. However, those that are able to work and return something for what they receive should do so. For those that are able to work we should institute the Jamestown theory, no work no entitlement check.