Councilman Abbott responds to finance director's letter

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following letter from Councilman Tommy Abbott is a response to city of Blytheville finance director John Callens letter that published on Thursday, Dec. 10.

I have debated about how or even whether to respond to this as it has never been my desire to enter into a war of words with anyone; my only goal has been to get real information out into the public's view.

With that in mind let me first state that what the Courier calls accusations I feel would be more aptly called indictments against a broken system or set of processes. My comments were never meant to be personal as that is not who I am. I truly extend my personal apologies to Mr. Callens for any perceived personal attacks on him or his office. I will not, however, apologize for what I believe are legitimate concerns about our city government and this budget process.

To that end; since Mr. Callens chose to make it personal, I feel I need to personally respond to him. Mr. Callens does not know me and therefore it is wrong for him to make the assumptions he makes regarding my motivations, either personal or political. People who know me, know that my goals in life; as in politics; are very seldom selfish or for personal gain. I believe that has been proven time and again in my commitment to the betterment of our city.

I wholeheartedly agree with the employees in his office regarding the efficiency and quality of work that is flowing out of Mr. Callens' office. I believe that he is a man of integrity and highly skilled at financial accountability. I felt that when I encouraged the mayor to choose him over two other candidates in the hiring process and still believe that today.

While it is true that I have not spent a lot of time in that office this year, I do receive monthly financial reports that I requested when Mr. Callens first took office. I also attend monthly finance meetings where we are given update reports, even though I am not part of that committee. With my city re-assignments this year along with some professional obligations, I have not felt the need to spend time there.

For the remainder of this response, I will attempt to state facts as I see them.

Fact: Mr. Callens' letter is a response to my letter to the editor contained in the Saturday, December 5 Courier News where I discussed my issues with the budget.

Fact: Every piece of information that I shared in that article was either from official legislative audit reports or was stated as public record in one of our committee meetings.

Fact: The budget is the mayor's responsibility; subject to city council amendment and approval. State law says that the mayor "shall submit to the governing body...for its approval or disapproval, a proposed budget for...the forthcoming year." It also states that, "the governing body...shall, on or before February 1 of each year, adopt a budget..."

These laws speak to several of the points in Mr. Callens letter. Obviously the point I feel a need to address are the statements regarding "my 2014 budget." The first and most obvious response is that I never created any budget. In 2014 the finance committee (three people; myself, John Musgraves, Kevin Snow) received the mayor's budget, which was originally proposed at $15.483M. We found a couple of major omissions (Police corrections budget and Ritz Civic Center.) This made the mayor's submission actually $16.042M. We, along with the council, amended that budget down to $15.161M. Through the budget process we actually removed over $1.4M in liability from the general fund. I am only one member of that committee and had no authority to create or control that budget. It is the mayor's budget and his alone to manage within the parameters of that budget.

The council's involvement in the budget process is driven by the accuracy of the reporting received from the city finance office. While that information is certainly an asset at this time, it has not always been so. In actuality, had the council not insisted on a change in that office due to lack of bondability, we might still be in the dark and still could be receiving misinformation which hindered our ability to even amend the budget properly. The finance committee is charged with presenting a balanced budget. As lay people who are not involved in the day to day operations and certainly not accountants, we cannot know that there are multiple accounts which must be balanced as well. The previous CFO never made that information known. This information can only flow from those charged with the day to day operations and ultimately the budget oversight of the city.

Fact: It is ludicrous to look back past a $17M budget to a $15M budget to find blame for our current financial woes.

Fact: I am not the first council member to be shut out of the governmental process. It is very frustrating to be willing and able to contribute to those processes and feel that you are wasting your time and voice due to under the breath comments and mockery by those at the table with you. You need look no further than those presently at that table or those recently resigned from this board for the reality of this fact.

Fact: What is perceived as grandstanding on my part is simply me trying to be heard in an environment where my voice is being ignored. As an elected official it is my duty to be sure the voice of the people is heard in an atmosphere where their voices are not being heard. I will do my best to always speak what is best for all our citizens and will continue to get that voice out there through any means possible. As I have previously stated, had we left the hiring freeze in place and looked forward a few months, we might not be looking at any potential layoffs.

Fact: I have stated on several occasions that drastic cuts may need to be made. I don't believe that many of those changes are necessary if we are not going to actually fix the problem. If our goal is to simply balance the budget and not actually address the overall problem, then I don't believe some of these proposals are necessary. If, however, our goal is to truly address the root cause, then these proposals are not strong enough. We will have to dig much deeper and there can be no sacred cows or friendships that can stand in the way of needed cuts.

Fact: The point was missed. When I stated that there is nothing new here, I was talking about the drama with the overall budget problems and not anything in particular. My point was that while every budget has new concerns, the process is still the same. We must find those issues, address them, and then move on.

Fact: Regarding the needs of the water and sewer departments, I am completely aware of the laws concerning their needs. I also know that there will always be needs beyond what their revenue stream will provide. That need can mean many things on many levels. Those priorities can change depending on the state of the rest of our city as evidenced by the many times in the past that those funds were transferred from those departments.

Fact: My only concern with the deadline for accepting the budget has been evidenced by the events of the past few days. To be restricted by a three week window to pass a budget can cause us to overlook possible problems. It also gives a perception, especially in the absence of a requested public forum, of the possibility of impropriety. While I agree that it can be done, in light of the controversial nature of some of the proposals, I say that we need to give full opportunity for public input. As we have always done in the past, if we know where the budget is heading it is a simple thing to control our spending for those few weeks.

We need common sense leadership in our city. I remain committed to making that happen.

-- Tommy Abbott

Blytheville City Council