TERRE HAUTE —
Terre Haute City Councilman Neil Garrison would like an independent, financial expert to examine the city’s fiscal health.
Garrison, who represents the 5th District, in a special meeting Monday afternoon of the council’s finance committee, said he is not confident that the administration is providing the council with the information it needs to make good decisions regarding the city’s budget.
“I think [hiring a financial analyst] would be helpful,” Garrison said during the one-hour committee meeting in City Hall. “I’m leery to go back to the same well [city officials] for information, if others don’t feel we are getting accurate, timely and truthful information.”
Mayor Duke Bennett, who attended the meeting but was not given the opportunity to speak, said after the meeting it is “totally false” that his administration has not provided good information.
“Everything that we give is accurate,” Bennett said. “Every year we go through an audit with State Board of Accounts, who are the authority on this. We are following every procedure, every statute, every law to do this. And just because someone thinks that something might be wrong doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong. We do everything by the book.”
Councilman John Mullican, 6th District representative and chairman of the committee, said he did not call for public comment because the purpose of the meeting was to formulate questions about the budget. The one-hour meeting was not a fact-finding meeting, but rather was designed to learn whether “we need to do any fact-finding,” he said.
In May, city officials asked the council to approve a $5-million short-term loan for the city. That loan raised concerns among some council members.
At the start of the meeting, Garrison presented figures to the council he said showed a significant drop in opening “general fund” cash balances at the beginning of each year, culminating in a deficit of $4.5 million at the start of 2012.
Bennett, speaking after the meeting, acknowledged the deficit but pointed to a loss in revenues caused by the state’s property tax caps.
“We’ve lost over $24 million dollars [due to the caps] we haven’t taken in over the last few years that was coming in prior to this,” Bennett said. “So, when you look at the big picture, we’ve been excellent stewards of the city’s money. No question about it.
“We had a deficit last year, a small deficit, that we intend to correct this year … We’re paying all the bills … It’s just a process of cash flow,” the mayor said.
Garrison had a long list of concerns he presented at the meeting, which was attended by a total of six members of the nine-person council. He questioned whether $2.3 million borrowed from the city’s Economic Development Income Tax fund to help meet cash flow would be repaid. He also said the city might have been able to repair more of Wabash Avenue if money devoted for that purpose had not been needed for the general fund. He also stated that he asked city officials for a financial plan seven weeks ago with no result.
“I haven’t seen anything,” Garrison said. “That gives me additional concern.”
One question arose during the meeting about the size of the city’s property tax disbursement in June. Mullican stated that a report by H.J. Umbaugh & Associated indicated the disbursement would be just $8.8 million, well below the $12 million earlier stated by administration officials.
Bennett said after the meeting he was uncertain of the actual figure for the June disbursement, but said it was greater than $8.8 million.
“I’ll have to go back and look at that,” Bennett said when asked for the actual disbursement figure. “It was a double-digit number. I just don’t remember the exact number right now.”
Garrison said he will look further into the possibility of hiring an independent financial analyst. The City Council will next convene Thursday for its sunshine meeting at 6 p.m. in City Hall.
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
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