Creative Accounting Exposed Lisbon Style Highly Protected But So Neglected!!!

LISBON’S CREATIVE ACCOUNTING SCHEME

At last night’s town council meeting, Chairman Fern LaRochelle stated "all monies were accounted for and there were no missing funds". 

 I had asked the question about $96,000 + transferred out of the TIF payment account.  I finally got it and I am going to try and explain it to you.  Now the numbers, I am going to use are NOT accurate numbers.  These numbers will make it easier for you to understand.  Councilor Cote and I have believed for a long time the TIF Payment account was being used as a slush fund.   Here is how the scheme works:

You start off with a budgeted amount:  $200,000
Next you pay out all expenses such as TIF payment:  $100,000
This leaves a balance which is then transferred to another account:  $100,000
Now as far as the computer is concerned you budgeted $200,000 and spent  $200,000.  So next year the town will budget $200,000 for this line item.

These transactions are legal.  But how much did you actually spend on this line item, $100,000?  The rest of it has been transferred to be utilized as the town sees fit.  Now the town will go through a legal process and spend the remaining $100,000:

Request for Procurement (RFP)
Council approval
Purchase order
Issue funds

All of these are transactions, according to an audit team are perfectly legal.  But wait a minute, the originally budgeted $200,000 for TIF Payment was not utilized for TIF Payments instead only $100,000 were used.  The remaining $100,000 went for some other purchases like “toys for the boys” totally unrelated to the TIF Payment. 

If the money designated for a purpose is not utilized for that purpose then the town has “misappropriated town funds”.  This is one of the reasons for having our taxes increased again this year.  This is why Councilor Cote and I have been preaching about padding the budget.  I discovered this with the TIF Payment account and I am sure there are more accounts being utilized to hide money from the people.

Because these are all legal transactions, they will never be detected by an audit.  These inflated accounts will continue yearly to provide the town with spending money and be part of the cause for raising our taxes.

 Councilor Mike Bowie

Town Manager Stephen Eldridge

I call this “misappropriation of town funds” by the Town Manager and Councilor Bowie.  Our tax dollars are designed for a specific purpose and should not be utilized as a slush fund.  I doubt if any of the councilors other than Councilor Bowie understand what is going on here.

Councilor Gina Mason

VOTE THEM OUT IN NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!

Larry Fillmore
Concerned Citizens