Letter to the Editor

Not much changed since Harrison left office

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

To the editor:

It's almost time for the vote on the tax designed to pay off the IRS. It's still a huge conflict with the citizens of Blytheville, mainly because the mayor and City Council have refused to a answer all the questions that have been presented to them.

When was the first time, the IRS contacted the city of Blytheville and who did they contact? Did they contact the mayor or city attorney? The auditor that came to town said they contact the city attorney when they notice discrepancies in the city budget -- what did he do when he was notified? Harrison thinks he was vindicated when the auditor said they didn't think the money was stolen, but there wasn't enough records to show where the money was spent. It only means that the money was hidden very carefully, and the silence of Faye Griggs only goes to support that claim. If you could go back and research things like contract labor, you might start finding some of that money. If the city just simply overspent and that money was spent on necessary things like tearing down burnt or dilapidated houses, or spent on road repair, I could understand how the city's budget was off by so much, but as we all know, no progress was made in those areas, despite the huge outcry from citizens to improve those situations.

Fact is, Harrison is not the only one to blame. All members of the City Council are responsible too, since they approve the budget, and at the end of each year, they look at the final tally. We need to reboot our city government, and not re-elect any of them during the next election with the exception of Missy Langston and one other board member who is new to the Council. Our current Mayor has not shown that he wants to give us answers for our problems either, he just wants to vote on this tax so we can put this behind us and sweep everything under the rug. I've heard he just wants to use his position as a stepping stone to move into state politics. We should not support any past or current Blytheville politician who wants to advance his career after putting us in this terrible position with the IRS.

Monte Hodges wants to run for office, and with this on his record, I don't see how anyone could vote for him. We have Jones and Harrison abusing their position to forgive money owed the water department, and when discovered, they just say it won't happen in the future. They probably could have obtained grants to help people with their utility bills rather than write them off at the taxpayers' expense.

Our city government likes to fly by the seat of their pants and pay everything with a blank check. The mayor should have given each department a limit on spending and mandated that each department come in under budget. But instead, each department dictated what they would spend and the Council and mayor just went with it, knowing that we are in debt to the IRS. The Police Department has too many cars now, everyone in that department has their own assigned car which they take home with them when they're not on duty, and some of them are being used for personal reasons. That means the taxpayers are paying for the gas and the wear and tear on those vehicles. No one should be able to take a company car home -- Fire Department and all other city-owned vehicles included. Eliminate ALL overtime and use that money to hire more people, if necessary, to serve the citizens.

There are so many areas that change is needed, the museum, Main Street and the Chamber of Commerce should get their funding from the advertising and tourism group. I don't know of anything that advertising and tourism is providing funds for except to pay the salaries of its board members. Thunder Bayou keeps being scrutinized for losing $500,000, but that is not the case. Thunder Bayou had a revenue of $320,000 last year and when added to the $750,000 generated from the 1/4-cent tax for parks and recreation, it totals 1.05 million, subtract the 575,000 budgeted for the golf course and there's a balance of 430,000 that is going into the general fund. The ball parks should have shown a revenue with ticket sales and concessions but that money hasn't been mentioned anywhere. All revenue from all of Parks and Recreation should be going into a separate fund, not into the general fund. If it would have been done like that from the beginning, the IRS would not have seen a deficit. That tidbit of information is just one more example of information that our government is withholding from its citizens.

There is so much that I could talk about to vent my frustrations with the mayor and City Council because they haven't made an effort to minimize spending, and to stop giving department heads a blank check to run their divisions. If they can't bring their department in under budget, find someone who can. That's why the people are frustrated. If those who are running our city don't care enough to try and make a difference, why should we? It's almost time to vote ... we are in a catch-22, but if we support our mayor in his desire to tax his citizens, will he do right by us and stop the spending, clean up our city, repair our roads and bring those responsible for the IRS debt to justice and give full disclosure on everything, including this year's budget? That is the dilemma that we all face, and it's time for all of you to decide on your own. If the tax doesn't pass, the City Council should simply cut a new budget and suck it up for one year by running a shoestring budget.

As for closing the golf course, it's not an option because of the agreement with the U.S. government. The Chamber of Commerce has taken a neutral stance on this issue, but if you read between the lines, you'll see a nay vote by them. I know they did not ask each and every member of the Chamber before making their decision, but I suppose they are looking at this from a different prospective.

I, for one, will vote for this tax because we haven't many choices. Our city government is not capable of making a decision that benefits everyone. Not much has changed since Harrison left office except that we are finding more things each day where money is missing, stolen, abused or simply a bill not paid. Good luck on making a decision on this vote. Everyone who helped put us in this situation should be ashamed. $2.8 million to the IRS and anther $.5 million to the county for jail fees. How embarrassing.

William Masterson
Blytheville