Notes added after the meeting are highlighted in this color.
Thank you for the appointment this evening.
We have 2 subjects in our presentation tonight. The first is about the recent postings to our
Blog. The second is about operations.
I.
Over the last week, we have posted to our blog
the millage on the books in all 82 Counties in MS. Listed is the millage for General Fund, Roads
and Debt Service. Also posted is the
2013 value of assessed property for 81 of MS’s 82 Counties. As soon as the 2014 values are available, I
will update the blog.
a.
By studying the millage charts, it is obvious
that Tunica County’s tax structure is way out of line with that of other MS
Counties and our tax structure will not sustain our government or our
obligations.
b.
We also know that our County has a large amount
of bond debt.
c.
It is my understanding that when bonds are
issued, the lender looks at our millage to see if lending the amount of the
bonds is a good investment and there is a good possibility of repayment.
d.
So, after studying our millage and knowing our
bond debt is quite large, we would like to know what financial institution or
institutions would lend us the kind of money that is represented by our bond
debt.
e.
Tonight we are submitting an Open Records letter
asking for the names of the financial institutions who hold our bond debt and
how much of our bond debt is held by each entity.
Note: At this point the County Administrator interrupted the report and asked if he could give us the information, would we not turn in the Open Records letter. I said yes. Mr. Thompson then told us that there was about $22M held by First Security Bank and the rest of about $30M was held by Hancock Bank. After the meeting I asked you come by the CA's office and get the exact amounts.
The exact amounts are $19,675.000 held by First Security Bank and $9,510,000 held by Hancock Bank for a total of $29,185,000. I will be writing more about this in another posting.
II.
Our
second subject has to do with internal operations. Note:
We thought we had an understanding to place a copy of the monthly claims
docket in the Public Records in order for anyone to review this
information. There has not been a copy
of the Claims Docket placed in the Public Records room since 31 May 2014 and
now those records are not in the room.
I’ve been asking about this for several months now. Mr. Thompson, will you please speak with the
Comptroller about this agreement? Note: Mr. Thompson said he would follow-up on this agreement.
a.
We hope that this presentation about operations will
cause this Board to consider amending our Employee Handbook to include a 90 day
probation period for all new hires.
b.
At a recent Board meeting, the County
Administrator read from the 30 Sep 2013 “Audited Financial Statements and
Special Reports”.
c.
We have included in this report the 30 Sep 2013
findings to the Board of Supervisors and the 30 Sept 2012 findings to the Board
of Supervisors.
d.
In a nut shell, what both “findings” say is that
the County Administrator and the Comptroller may not be the same person.
e.
And yet, in the not too distant past a member of
this Board asked our County Administrator if he could not do both jobs “for the
love of the County.”
f.
The County Administrator’s response was no
because he has the knowledge through his extensive education and experience
that the jobs of the County Administrator and the Comptroller may not be the
same person.
g.
Now we come to the problem:
i. In
a recent Tunica Times front page article there is a quote from a letter written
by Supervisor Burnett.
ii. The
quote is “You may be surprised, and I am enclosing for your review a copy of
the latest ‘official report’ that was provided to me in response to my public
records request. It is hard to believe
this report is accurate as it shows the County is overdrawn $12 million. It shows the General Fund $7.5 million
negative. While I don’t believe this report is accurate, it demonstrates
a complete lack of competence in being able to keep these reports up to
date so that the Supervisors can be advised properly and cast informed votes.”
iii. Well,
I didn’t believe it was accurate either.
Since no payroll check had bounced and no one was knocking on our doors
demanding payment, there had to be another answer.
iv. Here’s
what I found:
1.
The Tunica County Comptroller was hired in Apr
of this year.
2. “The total amount of deposits
that have not been enter(ed) into the system since May 2014 (through Sep 2014)
is $13,326,115.47.”
Conclusions: I don’t
understand why, when I can get needed information my Supervisor would release
an alarmist statement like the one that appeared in the Tunica Times. Isn’t the public upset enough for you?
Again, please consider revising the Employee Handbook to
include a 90 day probationary period for all new hires.
Attachments: Note: I will be attempting to upload these documents later.
- Open
Records Letter
- Page
66 of the 30 Sep 2012 “Audited Financial Statements and Special Reports.”
- Pages 68 & 69 of the 30 Sep 2013 “Audited Financial Statements and Special Reports.”
- Copy of email dated 24 Oct 2014 at 3:44p
