30 Oct 2014 Board of Supervisors' Meeting

 30 Oct 2014: Board of Supervisors’ Public Hearing Meeting @ 5p

 

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.

1. Open Records Letter
2. Page 66 of the 30 Sep 2012 “Audited Financial Statements and Special Reports.”
3. Pages 68 & 69 of the 30 Sep 2013 “Audited Financial Statements and Special Reports.”
4. Copy of email dated 24 Oct 2014 at 3:44p