Auditors work in a 'no-spin zone'
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone is now dumber for having listened to it. May God have mercy on your soul.
When one of your presumed friends sends the aforementioned “Billy Madison” invective to you, you just know it’s gonna be a long day. Then again, when you’ve offered up more than 1,000 newspaper opinions in more than two decades, whaddya expect? Everyone’s a critic.
Besides, like the Wise One once said: “They can’t all be gems.” (Unless, of course, you’re Pat Lawrence. Her columns are the Gold Standard.)
Without getting into any unnecessary digit directing, I’d like to step on the scales on a few local money-changing issues. As a general rule of my initial digit – which I call a thumb – for realistic fiscal data, I consult with the auditor. Be it city, county or state, I’ve always found the respective auditor’s office to be the absolute best source of honest, accurate information of vital interest to the taxpayer.
I tend to bypass the mayors, administrators, councils, commissions, and ad hoc committees. Instead, I tal k with the auditors.
Maybe that’s because the auditors – the good ones, anyway – understand that they are the ones subjected to annual audits from On High. In other words, when the auditor speaks, the rest of us just might want to listen.
This week, Hillsboro City Auditor Gary Lewis informed city council and the mayor that a deficit of almost a half a million bucks looms in the next fiscal year. Their reaction? Pass a resolution to spend more money. Amazing. (You can’t make this stuff up.)
The day after this meeting, it was announced that the nearby city of Wilmington was taking the pro-active step of reducing payroll as it faced its owned pending deficit. What did Hillsboro do upon receiving similar information? They increased spending for non-budgeted items.
The draconian (ain’t that a 10-dollar modifier!) and heavy-handed actions of the city leaders will, if nothing changes, be the city’s demise. With an advanced warning of almost two years on the city’s pending deficit, what do they do? Spend more of our tax dollars.
Make no mistake, this is not a political matter. It is an issue of sound judgment and logical leadership. As Highland County Commissioner Gary Heaton said in an open meeting last week, if the county hadn’t started making the cuts when it did, things would only be worse. The commissioners get it. The city doesn’t. Council seems intimidated and it appears many would rather go along to get along.
Meanwhile, taxpayers, if they really give a hoot in Hades, ought to ask
this real easy question of public officials: How are you spending our hard-earned tax dollars?
And do not, for an instant, be bamboozled by their doubletalk. Demand real numbers. Do not, for instance, let any public official tell you that your hard-earned dollars “help pave the roadways, ensure your safety, and put the fire out every time your house is ablaze.”
That all sounds well and good. It should. It’s political speak. But it just ain’t so.
Instead, demand to know where 75 or 80 cents of each tax dollar ends up. In the case of Hillsboro, it ends up in the good old SWB line item: Salaries, Wages and Benefits.
While many private-sector residents are struggling, many in the public sector are not.
While many private-sector workers, forced to pay Social Security withholdings, cannot afford personal retirement accounts, many in the public sector can retire at 52 with “fixed” incomes of more than $70,000 a year.
Thus, it’s no small wonder a recent Wall Street Journal report finds state government pension plans are underfunded by $450 billion.
Middle-income, private-sector workers have long gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to taxes. For most of us in this category, we’re simply too busy trying to make ends meet to give the aforementioned hoot in hell. But with the recent passing of the April 15 Tax Day (not to be confused with Tax Freedom Day – that comes later in the year), perhaps it’s a good time to examine where those taxes end up. Most end up in public payroll, pensions and benefits. Period.
And as one professional accountant told me this week: If cuts to the Hillsboro budget are made this year, there’s at least a slim chance to wash out the unemployment expense. If no cuts are made in 2010, it will take twice the cuts to have the same effect a year from now.
That’s why the county leaders started their spending cuts early on in this recession. It’s not been easy, but it’s been necessary. Of course, city taxpayers can expect more political spin in the next 18 months or so, before the bottom drops out and we’re told how badly a new tax levy is needed.
There’ll be enough spin to make The Four Tops dizzy. (Apologies to everyone under 50 for that metaphor.)
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
When one of your presumed friends sends the aforementioned “Billy Madison” invective to you, you just know it’s gonna be a long day. Then again, when you’ve offered up more than 1,000 newspaper opinions in more than two decades, whaddya expect? Everyone’s a critic.
Besides, like the Wise One once said: “They can’t all be gems.” (Unless, of course, you’re Pat Lawrence. Her columns are the Gold Standard.)
Without getting into any unnecessary digit directing, I’d like to step on the scales on a few local money-changing issues. As a general rule of my initial digit – which I call a thumb – for realistic fiscal data, I consult with the auditor. Be it city, county or state, I’ve always found the respective auditor’s office to be the absolute best source of honest, accurate information of vital interest to the taxpayer.
I tend to bypass the mayors, administrators, councils, commissions, and ad hoc committees. Instead, I tal k with the auditors.
Maybe that’s because the auditors – the good ones, anyway – understand that they are the ones subjected to annual audits from On High. In other words, when the auditor speaks, the rest of us just might want to listen.
This week, Hillsboro City Auditor Gary Lewis informed city council and the mayor that a deficit of almost a half a million bucks looms in the next fiscal year. Their reaction? Pass a resolution to spend more money. Amazing. (You can’t make this stuff up.)
The day after this meeting, it was announced that the nearby city of Wilmington was taking the pro-active step of reducing payroll as it faced its owned pending deficit. What did Hillsboro do upon receiving similar information? They increased spending for non-budgeted items.
The draconian (ain’t that a 10-dollar modifier!) and heavy-handed actions of the city leaders will, if nothing changes, be the city’s demise. With an advanced warning of almost two years on the city’s pending deficit, what do they do? Spend more of our tax dollars.
Make no mistake, this is not a political matter. It is an issue of sound judgment and logical leadership. As Highland County Commissioner Gary Heaton said in an open meeting last week, if the county hadn’t started making the cuts when it did, things would only be worse. The commissioners get it. The city doesn’t. Council seems intimidated and it appears many would rather go along to get along.
Meanwhile, taxpayers, if they really give a hoot in Hades, ought to ask
this real easy question of public officials: How are you spending our hard-earned tax dollars?
And do not, for an instant, be bamboozled by their doubletalk. Demand real numbers. Do not, for instance, let any public official tell you that your hard-earned dollars “help pave the roadways, ensure your safety, and put the fire out every time your house is ablaze.”
That all sounds well and good. It should. It’s political speak. But it just ain’t so.
Instead, demand to know where 75 or 80 cents of each tax dollar ends up. In the case of Hillsboro, it ends up in the good old SWB line item: Salaries, Wages and Benefits.
While many private-sector residents are struggling, many in the public sector are not.
While many private-sector workers, forced to pay Social Security withholdings, cannot afford personal retirement accounts, many in the public sector can retire at 52 with “fixed” incomes of more than $70,000 a year.
Thus, it’s no small wonder a recent Wall Street Journal report finds state government pension plans are underfunded by $450 billion.
Middle-income, private-sector workers have long gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to taxes. For most of us in this category, we’re simply too busy trying to make ends meet to give the aforementioned hoot in hell. But with the recent passing of the April 15 Tax Day (not to be confused with Tax Freedom Day – that comes later in the year), perhaps it’s a good time to examine where those taxes end up. Most end up in public payroll, pensions and benefits. Period.
And as one professional accountant told me this week: If cuts to the Hillsboro budget are made this year, there’s at least a slim chance to wash out the unemployment expense. If no cuts are made in 2010, it will take twice the cuts to have the same effect a year from now.
That’s why the county leaders started their spending cuts early on in this recession. It’s not been easy, but it’s been necessary. Of course, city taxpayers can expect more political spin in the next 18 months or so, before the bottom drops out and we’re told how badly a new tax levy is needed.
There’ll be enough spin to make The Four Tops dizzy. (Apologies to everyone under 50 for that metaphor.)
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]