Tag Archives: Government Accountability

VetTheGov.com takes on Mesa County’s Budget

Striving For Government Effiecincy and Accountability

VetTheGov.com Uncovers a Budget Crisis in Mesa County Colorado

The author of this new website, who I have great respect for his effectiveness in the political arena, has done his homework. If knowledge is indeed power then you’ll be one powerful person after reading VetTheGov.com.

Not only is the last post very will informed, it cuts straight to the bone of government’s inefficiencies. VetTheGov.com has been able to uncover millions of dollars in budgetary shortfalls and misspent tax money.

Beginning with the Landfill/Solid Waste department which for years was the talk of the town for actual good government business, has now become a negative on the balance sheet.  If you look at the this departments budget statement here you will notice that eventually all good government programs end up losing at some point.  The Solid Waste department will charge $3,875,000.00 for services with total expenditures for the program of $4,625,342.00 for a loss of ($750,342.00).  The positives for this catagory are required personnel which has stayed at Seven Full Time Equivalents (FTE’s) and some nice cash reserves.

The writer goes on to uncover,

Animal Services department is budgeted for $912,871.00 with charges for services of $501,100.00 for another loss of ($411,771.00).  The animal services manager annual salary based on monthly gross wages is $111,345.72.  The department also has an animal services director which is paid $72,894.96 annually.  The remaining portion divided up for 13 other positions and operating expenses.  Who would of thought the dog catching business paid so well?  Average response time 28.2 minutes for priority calls.

Here is where it gets interesting!  The Human Services and Health Fund department’s employ 306.58 FTE’s out of Mesa County’s 965.58 FTE’s total.  Combined budgets total $28,203,268.00 in which a large portion of their revenue comes from Federal government grants.  The Human Services department has 220.83 FTE’s with total appropriations of $21,927,203.00.  From this 21.9 million, $16,963,706.00 goes to salaries, benefits, and operating costs.  Only $4,908,165.00 makes it to actual clients.  See Human Services budget here.  There is no charge for services to clients.  The average Director gross salary is $87,515.00.

 

VetTheGov.com has several more targets in mind and is currently working on uncovering other stories. One current

Colorado bill SB 200 the Health Care Exchange Bill may just be subject to the VetTheGov’s next oversight. In a recent phone conversation I had with him, he said “this bill is nothing more that a open door for Obamacare.” I personally can’t wait to see what VetTheGov comes up with next.

Please support my friend and help expose Government waste and abuse.

 

 


CO Senator John Morse Takes More Tax Payers Money

Colorado State Senator John Morse was recently the subject in the Colorado Accountability Project’s latest article.  They discovered that Sen. Morse is collecting money at a rate far higher than any of his colleagues, including both Senate and House leadership members. Morse requested per diem reimbursment, $99 per day, nearly 100 days more than then Speaker Terrance Carrol.

CAP’s report had this to say:

“Most members of leadership only submit for time they spend at the capitol or days when they attend meetings as a representative of the state.

Morse claimed a full 120 days during the legislative session then claimed an additional 211 days, or nearly $21,000, after the end of the session. The majority of those days were labeled as ‘constituent work’ on the reimbursement request; such ‘constituent work’ was not supported by Sen. Morse’s calendars. In fact, days where reimbursements were requested the calendar entries reflected haircuts, dentist appointments and packing and moving.

Recently, Sen. Morse ran an amendment to cut $25,000 from the Attorney General‟s budget. During debate of the same bill, he chastised Secretary of State Scott Gessler for his claims that he could not live on a salary of $68,500. Morse went on to say that Gessler “needed to tighten his belt the way ordinary Coloradans have.”

Sen. Morse has been quick to criticize others while collecting state money at a rate superior to his fellow members of leadership. In fact, Morse requested reimbursement at a rate of 28% greater than then-Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll, 31% greater than President of the Senate Brandon Shaffer and 44% and 68% greater than Republican leadership.”


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