The Noose of Corruption Is Getting Tighter In Lisbon's Police Affair Via Creative Accounting Boondoggle!

 Lisbon Police Chief David T. Brooks

MORE CREATIVE ACCOUNTING

The Finance Department of Lisbon has a history of covering up purchases pertaining to the Communication Center to keep the citizens from knowing the true operating costs.  It is imperative to Chief Brooks to conceal the actual tax dollars spent on the Communication Center and the Police Department.  When the Town Council presents the Municipal budget (the one the citizens will never be able to vote on) you will see a pie chart showing tax dollars being spent by departments.  Pay close attention and you will see the Public Works Department consumes the most dollars followed by the Police Department but wait; the pie chart has the Communication Center as a separate department.  The Communication Center falls under the Police Department.  Add the two figures and you will see that the Police Department consumes the most tax dollars.

I have spent a great deal of time trying to determine the actual operating costs of the Communication Center because, in my eyes, it is a money pit and should be transferred to the County.  On April 5, 2013, I submitted a Freedom of Access Act which reads:

 1.   I have searched last year’s budget and cannot find a line of accounting for 02-200-5617.  Respectfully request a complete description of line of accounting 02-200-5617.

2.   FOAA # 80 requested a copy of the Purchase Orders for all the hardware/software purchased/acquired for the Communication Center.  I received five (5) Purchase Orders and all the lines of accounting charges the expense to the Police Department and not the Communications Division.  Why were these items which were purchased and installed in the Communications Division charged to a line of accounting in the Communications Division? 

***The last line should have been Police Department instead of Communication Division.***

One of the Purchase Orders was for ten (10) 20” LED monitors; two (2) 21.5” monitors and three wireless keyboards.  These items were charged to 02-200-5617.  I searched last year’s budget and this year’s budget for this line of accounting and could not find it.  So I requested a complete description of this line of accounting per paragraph 1.  Below is a copy of the Purchase Order.

On April 8, 2013, the Town Clerk forwarded a letter stating “The Finance Director has informed me that there is no additional “written, printed or graphic matter” that will clarify the accounting used.”  I suppose this is a direct response to paragraph 2 but it does not answer paragraph 1.  A copy of the Town Clerk’s letter is below.

I contacted the Town Clerk and asked her why paragraph 1 was never answered and she did not know.  The Town Clerk informed me she would contact both the Finance Director and Chief of Police and would let me know what the complete description of 02-200-5617 actual is.  I spoke to the Town Clerk on Tuesday night at the Town Council meeting and she told me that neither the Finance Director nor Chief of Police had provided the information.  This was over a week’s period of time.

Now I have had to submit yet another Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) for the same information again.  The new FOAA reads “Respectfully request, for the second time, a complete description of the line of accounting 02-200-5617.  I first requested this information in FOAA # 95 but it was never answered.  I do not know if it was a simple oversight or there is no such line of accounting 02-200-5617.  I am seeking a complete description of line of accounting 02-200-5617.”  Maybe by now the town has created a line of accounting for 02-200-5617.

This should not have been a difficult task for either the Finance Director or the Chief of Police unless this line of accounting never existed.  This is yet another example of misappropriation of funds.  The equipment was for the Communication Center but charged somewhere else in the Police Department (02-200).  How can anyone prepare a valid budget if you do not know what the ACTUAL expenditures by departments are for the previous year?  Chief Brooks, Stephen Eldridge and Jessica Maloy would do anything to keep the citizens of Lisbon from knowing the ACTUAL operating costs of the Communication Center and the Police Department.

This is a travesty of justice and abuse of power.

Larry Fillmore