Simple questions that do not get a straight answer. Dollars intentionally left out of a financial report. The idea that as long as everyone “thinks”everything is okay then everything is okay.
That’s the way Fannin County’s budget is being handled and it’s no way to handle a budget. It’s certainly no way to run a county.
Post One Commissioner Earl Johnson had simple questions seeking financial accuracy when the commission board met last week for a budget workshop.
But county Finance Director Robin Gazaway couldn’t answer his questions. Worse, she tried to dodge them.
Answers to Johnson’s questions should have been readily available at any time, especially in a budget workshop. That’s where questions are expected. It’s the finance director’s job, to watch the money like a hawk – to have the answers.
The financial picture worsened in the regular commission meeting when a discussion came up over Gazaway’s monthly financial report showing the Public Works department as being $175,542 over budget.
When questioned by Johnson, Gazaway admitted she was told by Commission Chairman Stan Helton to include only one of two state-related revenue amounts. That omission resulted in a larger deficit than should have been reported. There is only one way to describe this practice, the books are being cooked. Leaving numbers out casts doubt over the entire financial report.
When Johnson again questioned the accuracy of Gazaway’s financial numbers, he was challenged by Post Two Commissioner Glenn Patterson who said as long as everyone understood the department was not over budget financial figures were just a matter of “semantics” – they don’t matter.
Figures, accurate figures, do matter. They are the basis for factual interpretations. Without them, commissioners do not have a true financial picture.
Fannin County is big business and business relies on numbers to succeed.
Johnsons’ questions, and specifically the answers the finance director could not produce, cast a dark shadow over the 2020 budget.
The budget shows an increase of almost a million dollars in the General Fund and a revenue shortfall of $660,296 for the entire budget. Going into a year without a balanced budget is poor financial planning.
Not knowing how much money is in the bank, which may or may not carry over from this year, gives the impression that every dime of the county’s money is being spent without commissioners, much less taxpayers, knowing what is happening.
Johnson said he won’t vote for the 2020 budget without accurate numbers. Good for him. He is looking after the best interests of Fannin County taxpayers.
Gazaway’s failure to provide accurate numbers, Helton’s approach of intentionally leaving dollars out of financial reports and Patterson’s idea that “thinking” everything is okay, are all dangerous ways to set Fannin County’s financial course. Because that course leads to disaster.
The 2020 budget will be discussed again at the commissioners December 10 meeting. Let’s hope Johnson gets his answers. Taxpayers deserve it, too.