Fiscal Rangers

Lake County Board Ignored Personnel Issues Research Report from Lee Johnson

I first covered some details on this Lee Johnson research project around August 18, 2008. I have more information, PLUS Lee Johnson & I will be on Lake County's radio station, WTLB AM790 tomorrow, Wednesday, October 1 at 11m to noon to discuss this issue as well as Lake County School District fiscal management issues. A local citizen, Lee Johnson , encountered some data to indicate that employee hiring, firing, promotions and demotions at Lake County Government may be more due to who you knew and friends, than professional skills or evaluations. It affected a number of fired or laid off County employees and Johnson spent many days using Public Records Requests to get copies of emails, personnel records and other documents that indicate that cronyism seems to be the method of managing personnel at Lake County. I became involved when Johnson contacted me as the FiscalRangers.com blogger to see some of the details. As an experienced corporate auditor, the trend of the specific examples uncovered by Johnson seem to indicate numerous violations of standard personnel procedures used by many other large government agencies and corporate employers. What was amazing (read the details in the attachments at the link below)... Read more →

Hawaiian Grass Roots Group to Hire Corruption Investigation Reporter

It is sometimes interesting to use the search term "corruption" in a database or website and see what comes up. Doing so in the national employment database www.PrimeCB.com (run by CareerBuilder), I found the following ad for an investigative reporter to research corruption and government management issues in Hawaii for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. The purpose of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is to improve the relationship between the government and the people with the objective of improving the effectiveness of the government, the business climate and in some cases, tradition, to foster an atmosphere in Hawaii that results in maximum personal freedom for every individual. We recognize that personal freedom comes with the price of personal responsibility, accountability and respect for others. We believe each person must be free to succeed or fail in building wealth and in relationships with others. Mission The mission of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is to promote individual liberty, the free market and limited accountable government. Through research papers, policy briefings, commentaries and conferences, the Institute seeks to educate and inform Hawaii's policymakers, news media and the general public. Grassroot Institute is a member of the State Policy Network, Townhall.com, Americans for... Read more →

Orlando Red Light Traffic Cameras Cause Anger & Response

After 1-2 years of rabid Orlando Sentinel support, the city of Orlando (or is it the County?) rolled out red light camera systems at several intersections. Today's paper said that over 1,000 red light camera tickets have been issued in the first two weeks of the program. (See article below). And, amazingly, the Sentinel actually published a factual opinion letter from Greg Mauz explaining all the research to show that red light cameras actually increase accidents due to people looking up, seeing the camera, and slamming on their brakes, causing the car behind them to hit them. I went through this red light camera program in Orange County, California several years ago. They had many studies that DID show that accidents went up. unlike the liberal Sentinel, the "OC" in California had a Libertarian based newspaper, the Register, which published many articles showing the downside of the red light cameras being tested. Usage fell off after the facts came out. When the red light issue in Orlando first received Sentinel support, I emailed my opinion that accidents would go up, but the Sentinel didn't even publish any opposition articles. So, I expect red light intersections with cameras to result in... Read more →

Lake Schools to Charge Clubs for Using Facilities

Lake County School Board member Scott Strong has been pushing a businesslike policy for the schools to charge fees to outside groups for using school facilities. Apparently not all groups are charged in a consistent manner, and some don't pay at all. I attended the board workshop where this was discussed, and watched Board Member Jimmy Conners disagree with the policy. But, it comes down to this... according to Supt. Anna Cowin, they have an existing policy and fee schedule, but not all school Principals enforce charging facility fees to clubs who use school property. Now, if Cowin is in charge, why didn't she make sure this policy was enforced? The lack of fee collection results in less funds for school teachers, etc. because the users of facilities use expensive outdoor lighting, and require custodial cleanup services, but apparently many don't pay the costs. So, kudos to Strong for pushing the issue (even for use of school buses by groups), and the new policy may be decided tonight. We will miss his pragmatic, business approach to school spending when he leaves office in November. As for Conner's opposition, it is mostly focused on booster clubs which do raise funds for... Read more →

Chicago Public School District $137,000 Payroll Check Fraud Reported

The article below describes how two Chicago area school administrators took advantage of a new payroll system and initiated higher than normal paychecks for several employees that totaled $137,000 in return for kickbacks. Apparently the IT department had not turned on a control routine in the new software and the administrators knew it. It took SEVEN months before a school principal noticed excess hours on one inflated check and reported it to internal audit for investigation. This breakdown in controls could have been prevented with simple control totals comparing authorized payroll totals to those on the checks, but apparently the staff didn't understand manual control processes that can be used as an alternative to computerized controls. Remember, Lake County, FL's School District recently had a situation where "someone" bypassed internal procedures to allow overpayments to several staff who had been moved or demoted to lower paid positions, but the "unauthorized" revisions to payroll continued to pay the employees at the older, higher rate. I don't believe that situation has yet to be resolved in public. vj from THIS Chicago SunTimes source 3 charged in payroll scheme CPS | 2 accused of creating $137,000 in phony checks September 13, 2008 BY... Read more →

Lake County School Board Approves $662-million budget

I have been attending all the School District budget workshops (now called "special meetings") for this coming budget, and yesterday, as the article below explains, the School Board approved a budget of $662 million for 2008 (which started LAST JULY) to June, 2009. So, it only took the administration and Board two months to decide the budget into the new spending year. Given the fact that School Supt. Anna Cowin's staff was unorganized, and rarely presented any factual data to support budget justifications (other than verbal, feel good statements), the Board did a good job reviewing many (not all) line item spending plans, and rolling some of them back. Chairman Larry Metz and board member Cindy Barrow were especially effective in ferreting out some unneeded spending. However, there were still BS statements from some managers and the Board had to approve some spending that I would have kicked back. One confusing factor is that the total budget lumps in capital spending, which is mostly school construction. So when reporter David Donald says the budget is "about $80 million less than last year's", he doesn't explain much or ALL of the reduction is from a drop in construction spending. So, it... Read more →