You have
seen some of the notices typically worded “Budget Hearing Notice”. The notice
will end with some wording stating the purpose of the hearing is to make a
determination of the millage needed to provide those essential services we
cannot provide for ourselves. The typical Michigan property tax bills, sent summer
and winter, have all of these taxing authorities, starting and ending their fiscal
years with wild abandon. Some fiscal years run April through March, July
through June, and some, like Cheboygan County actually start January 1 and run
through December 31. Why then were there several large notices published in
June by Cheboygan County notifying us of a Public Hearing on the Proposed 2018 Budget
and Increasing Property Taxes? I guess the answer is “oops”.
The county
budget is a big effort and after months of work and the cooperation of all
county departments, County Administrator Jeff Lawson delivered a 300+ page
proposed 2018 budget on November 28, 2017 to the Board of Commissioners. Mr
Lawson scheduled the public hearing for December 12, 2017 and oops, someone
forgot to notify us properly. Many of the laws that are supposed to regulate
government and protect us from misfeasance or malfeasance have little or no
penalty and a simple do over makes everything all right. Didn’t publish the proper
notice of a Public Budget Hearing in December? Months later, perhaps after
discovery by the independent auditor, Mr Lawson got another do-over in June.
Our County budgets
annually for our state mandated and discretionary county services. Administrator
Jeff Lawson and staff determine the millage
required to fund those services. The proposed 2018 budget had forecast $15,745,453
total general fund expenditure. The proposed revenue was also $15,745,453. It is an amazing balancing trick budgeting to
the dollar until one looks at the “other revenue“line, a $681,056 transfer from
Fund Equity. Put simply, that means County Administrator Lawson limited by law to
how many mills he can tax, dipped into the county’s reserve funds to cover a
$681,056 shortfall. Spending more than comes in is not fiscally responsible and
Mr Lawson has done it year after year.
From
the most recent documents that the State of Michigan requires the County to
file, the General Fund Reserves at the
end of fiscal 2016 totaled $7,061,762. It is now less. The state likes an
unrestricted fund balance of about 15% to 25% of annual expenditures. Cheboygan
County’s policy was set at 30% and in 2016 was sitting at 63%. That resulted
from years of over-taxing us. Instead of spending within the millage revenue,
this big rainy day fund has allowed County
Administrator Jeff Lawson to over-spend. He balanced the proposed 2016 budget
by using $844,659.
Lawson then balanced the proposed 2017 budget by using $822,112 of Fund Equity.
With 2018 included, that is $2,347,627 of deficit spending proposed by Lawson
in only three years. If these deficit spending budgets prove conservative,
leaving a year-end surplus, then Mr Lawson and his finance staff inflated the
need for funds and over-charged Cheboygan County taxpayers on the required
millage.
There are several
million dollars needed soon to upgrade the existing CCE-911 emergency services
radio systems to 800 MHZ. We can debate the urgency or real need. We cannot
argue that this board has allowed Mr Lawson to dip into rainy-day funds year
after year for day-to-day county operations. Regardless of how hard Mr Lawson
has hit the savings over the past few years balancing his budgets, there are
still plenty dollars there to fund the 800 MHZ upgrade without the incumbent
Board of Commissioners taxing us again. They do not need to seek a new millage
or a 911 surcharge. There are millions of surplus unrestricted dollars in the
general fund reserve.
Almost 20 years ago, I worked with a
person who left a long career with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He cut corners, pre-filled regular
reports, and practiced little cover-ups. He generally made me feel good he was
no longer in the nuclear business. His favorite expression excusing some
slip-shod effort, “good enough for government work”, was too scary in a nuclear
context. At one time, good enough for
government work meant a higher standard. We need to hold those in control of Cheboygan
County to that higher standard.
