OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – PART 3

(Attention Lisbon Council Vice-Chair Lori Pomelow; This is how you present material to the public with facts, not innuendos and blabber like you did at the 10/16/2012 Lisbon Town Council Meeting!!!!!)

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – PART 3

In Part 1 I showed the “Bait and Switch” tactic utilized by town management to keep the Public from knowing what is going on with our tax dollars.  In Part 2 I showed what it takes to get to the truth. So now I am going to show you how town management covers up its mismanagement of our tax dollars.

During the 2012-2013 budget process, town management worked very hard to conceal information from the taxpayers.  Chief Brooks announced he had received a grant for furniture in the Communications Center.  This information was recorded under line item 01-110 General Government/Contingency 5227 Grant Match.  When I requested a copy of the grant under the FOAA program, I was told there was no grant.  IF THEIR LIPS ARE MOVING THEY ARE LYING.  The only way to get the truth is by FOAA. 

Next I asked for a copy of the Purchase Order that paid for the furniture.  I have included a copy of the Purchase Order below.  I circled critical information.  The circled information tells taxpayers what expense accounts these funds were taken from.  In this case $15,000 was taken from account E01-140-5410 and $8,830.06 was taken from account E02-200-5617.  You ask why this is important to know and I will explain it.

 (Click on documents to make a copy)

Notice who signed the Purchase Order authorizing the funds be taken from these accounts, the town manager, Stephen Eldridge.

You remember when I told you it was budgeted under the Contingency account, well neither of these account numbers are part of the Contingency account.  So what account were these funds taken from?  KEEP IN MIND THIS PURCHASE IS FOR FURNITURE IN THE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER.  So I submitted a FOAA asking what these accounts were and below is the response.
 

The two accounts fund were taken from were Equipment under General Government/Town and Police Department Officer Reimbursement fund.  

What do either one of these accounts have to do with the Communication Center?  How can taxpayers know how or what our tax dollars are actually being spent on if they conceal a purchase like this?  Chief Brooks does not want taxpayers to know what the real cost is of operating the communication center.  According to the computer, this purchase was charged against Town Building and PD Officer Reimbursement.  How will this effect PD Officer Reimbursements in the future?  Will there be funds available for them?

These are tax dollars being misappropriated and hidden from taxpayers.  The mismanagement of our tax dollars has caused citizens to suffer through yet another tax increase.  There is no hope of understanding how deep this misappropriation and mismanagement goes without a forensic audit.

Taxpayers are being 'screwed' every day and they don’t even know it.

Larry Fillmore
Concerned Citizen