If you have been paying attention to the back and forth between Mayor Martin and the city council over the last several months, you know that a new fiscal year 2012 budget was never approved. The main “bone of contention”, among several? Approximately $80,000 in Martin’s budget proposal intended to fund the wages, benefits, retirement and other related expenses for a departed eighth police officer whom the mayor said he did not intend to replace.
Martin’s interesting rationale for keeping the $80K in the police budget? He said, “We need the money for roads.” We know what you’re thinking. Martin’s comment doesn’t make any sense. You are absolutely right. But that’s a topic for another post.
The failure to pass a new budget in and of itself is not a cause for great alarm. In accordance with statute, the city government continues to operate under the previous year’s budget. Villa Hills’ depleted police force-now down to six members-can continue to patrol the streets. The public works crew can plow this winter’s snow. And with four clerks falling over one another in the city building, we assume they can handle the needs of the residents.
But there should be concern. Why? Because by law, Mayor Martin is only restricted by last year’s published budget ordinance. As is common with most cities concerned with cost, the published FY 2011 budget ordinance only detailed the “bottom lines” of revenues and disbursements and listed the city’s funds restricted to disbursement for a specific purpose. In Villa Hills’ case, the only restricted funds are Kentucky Municipal Aid (KMA) and the revenues collected from the infamous License Fee. The money in both of these funds is set aside for road repair and replacement.
Please stay with us here. The KMA and License fee revenues total a little more than $300K. That equates to roughly 10% of the city’s total annual budget. So, Mayor Martin has almost no restrictions on how he disburses the remaining 90%-or roughly $2.7 million-of the taxpayer’s money.
That goes a long way to explaining why city council has virtually no leverage to stop the hiring of Martin’s cronies and several computer companies and the ongoing decimation of the police department.
Worse yet, Martin ally and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Pope literally laughs at the council when they express concern about the lack of accurate financial reporting. We are told that Pope sees no real need for the details to be correct because “the only thing that matters is the bottom line.”
Here’s the problem with Pope’s dismissive attitude. City council is unable to fulfill its’ important obligation to perform oversight over the functions of government. How is that possible without accurate financial reporting?
City council stands for election next November. It will be here before you know it. The Martin Chronicles fully expects Martin and Pope to cobble together a slate of like-minded candidates in an attempt to to move their agenda forward. While that is the American way, it should also scare the heck out of you.
2011 should have taught Villa Hills that it does matter who they elect to operate city government. The ballot walloping the road tax proposal took this year was a good sign. We’ll get the first solid indication if the lesson has been learned in November, 2012.
