We need to know where all our tax money is going!
Lazaro Aleman ECB Publishing, Inc.
The Jefferson County Commission appears ready to get its own budget officer to review accounts, monitor statements and ensure that expenditures are not only within the budget but also justified. Based on the recommendation of Commissioner Chris Tuten, the board voted 3-0 on Thursday evening, March 3, to prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit the services of an expert to monitor the budget. Commissioners Betsy Barfield and J. T. Surles were not present at this meeting. Tuten informed the board that two weeks earlier, he and Planning Official Shannon Metty had met with Chris Moran, a certified public accountant with Moran and Smith LLC in Tallahassee, to discuss the road bond and the wisdom of the county assuming another large debt at this point. During the discussion, Tuten said he had asked Moran questions pertaining to the budget. And the latter’s comment, Tuten said, was that on the clerk of court’s side of the budget “things were very complicated and complex.” “And with everything that we have going on with our budget, I think it would be wise if the board were to hire a budget officer to help us on our side of the budget,” Tuten said. “I just think that with everything that’s going on, we need another set of eyes to help the clerk and to keep the budget straight. That way, we don’t keep missing things. I’m tired of surprises.” Commissioner Stephen Walker quite agreed. “Basically, we need to know where all our tax money is going,” Walker said more bluntly. “When taxpayers see what they consider to be frivolous spending, whether we had anything to do with it or not, it’s still a reflection on us. And it needs to apply to all the constitutional officers, not specifically to one. Any of our money that goes out, we need to know where it’s going.” “Really,” Walker added, “I consider any money that goes to a constitutional officer to be county money anyway. The money is not specific to any particular office or the board, it comes to Jefferson County.” Tuten went a step further. “Our financials need to match our budget,” he said. “One problem Moran was telling us is that it currently doesn’t match. What we’re being shown is not, in fact, what it is.” Tuten offered that budget officer position did not necessarily have to be a permanent one. Once the budget was brought under control, the board could well decide that the services were no longer needed, he said. “But I feel that at least temporarily, until the budget is fixed, we need a budget officer to help,” Tuten said. The question then became whether to hire the budget officer on a temporary or a permanent basis? The decision ultimately was to draw up an RFP and hire the individual as a consultant on a temporary basis. Paul Henry, a county resident, suggested that while the commission was at it, it should update its accounting software as part of the oversight effort. Here was an opportunity, he said, for the county to make it a requirements of the RFP that whomever was hired for the service must provide better accounting software. “I’m going to keep kicking this horse as many times as I need to,” Henry said. “Because, if we had better accounting software, this past week, for example, County Coordinator Parrish Barwick wouldn’t have had to look into why we were buying DVDs. It all comes down to the accountability issue.” Henry cited for example the City of Tallahassee’s accounting system, which he said shows every item purchased, the individual making the purchase and the reason for the purchase, among other information. With such information readily provided on the monthly report, there would be no questions as to the appropriateness of any expenditure, he said. Henry regularly scrolls through the county’s monthly pdf reports of expenditures and questions any purchase that appears inappropriate. In the past, his diligence in monitoring the reports has led to discovery of a few inappropriate purchases. Tuten said he absolutely agreed that the software requirement should be part of the RFP. Barwick, meanwhile, expressed concern that the commission was talking about monitoring not only the court system’s budget, but also the individual departments’ budgets. “I would ask you, please, do not delve into department budgets,” Barwick said. “There are no problems with the department budgets. I mean, if there are, let’s bring them out and show me where those problems are so I can answer them. Because we have department heads that for 10 years have been running a positive budget and they oversee it in a way that’s needed. They don’t overspend their budget.” Barwick said he totally agreed with board initial assessment. The courtside budget, he said, was a very confusing and multipart system. “But please, don’t marry those things together,” he said. “Because your departments are not creating problems with your budget.” Walker, however, pointed out that basically it came down to an accountability issue, and having an extra set of eyes on everything. It wasn’t only whether expenditures were within the budget, but how the monies were being spent, he said. Tuten agreed. Expenditures needed to have the departments’ names next to them and the reason for the purchase so that there wouldn’t be any questions as to who was spending the money and why. The current system, which required that Barwick investigate any questionable expenditure, was simply inefficient, he said. “This kind of stuff has to stop,” Tuten said. “We need to get more efficient with this budget stuff and these check registers.” Henry also responded to Barwick’s comment, pointing out that a department could well have a budget that was authorized. But without accountability, there was no way of knowing where the money was going, he said. And just because a department’s conduct had been good in the past, it didn’t guarantee that it would continue so in the future, Henry said. All that was required was a line that asked for justification, he said. So that every time a department head or anyone expended money, they had to write down the justification. “I don’t think that’s too much to ask,” Henry said. The issue of the budget and unauthorized expenditures has been roiling the county commission for months now, stemming from alleged misuse of the county-issued charge card for inappropriate purchases.