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Let’s follow the money in government

Published 1:05am Sunday, March 10, 2013

Adams County and the City of Natchez rapidly are approaching the halfway point in fiscal year 2013.

In a mere three weeks, both local government entities will be 50 percent of the way through the budget year.

Such a moment would be a good time for citizens in each entity to get a quick update on the financial status.

Often, citizens lament that government would be better if it were run like a business.

In most cases, that is impossible because businesses mostly exist to make profits, while governments exist to serve their population.

None of us truly want to the government to be making a profit because in most cases their revenue comes in the way of taxes and fees, which in turn is a reduction in the amount of money you and I have in our wallets, bank accounts or mattresses.

Still, a few traits of business would be good for governments to model. A key one, and one that is long overdue is providing timely financial updates.

Businesses, particularly publicly traded ones, must make regular financial reports to its stockholders. The financial information gives the owners of the company a quick glance at how the business is doing, relative to its budget and to last year or last quarter’s performance.

That measuring stick is critical to know:

Is the business operating in the black or in the red?

Is the business performing better or worse than it has been in the past?

Usually in reporting these results the executives with the company also provide some insight into the behind-the-scenes of the numbers. Sometimes one-time emergencies, for example, might raise an expense category for a short period of time, so it’s important to explain that the increase isn’t likely to continue.

All of this is quite boring to people without a vested interest in the company, but it’s fascinating if you’re an investor.

The same could be said for the budgets and financial performance of Natchez and Adams County.

For the majority of residents and taxpayers, public finance is boring and confusing. That’s why it’s rare to see more than a handful of citizens attend public hearings when the budgets are discussed.

The only exception is when word gets out of a possible tax increase. Then, suddenly, we all have interest.

But wouldn’t it be great, for the few people who realize the importance of having an efficient, financially sound local government, if a monthly or quarterly snapshot existed to provide a financial status update?

We all know government moves slowly, but if after all of the money spent on financial software and IT experts, shouldn’t we have the technology to provide such things?

If not, that should be a goal.

The phrase “follow the money” has become commonplace since it was first reported as the advice given to reporters investigating the Watergate scandal.

That phrase remains good advice to this day. Many decisions — and indecisions — seem to relate back to money.

The challenge is that not all of us are forensic accountants who can piece back together the breadcrumbs occasionally offered by the people entrusted with protecting — and counting — our public dollars.

At the end of this month, local government will be at the halfway point of the fiscal year, but does anyone know how we’re doing?

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.

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  • Anonymous

    Agreed, following the money is good advice but following the money in this town is like trying to herd cats.

  • http://www.natchezdemocrat.com khakirat

    The trail of local government money should be accountable and transparent to the taxpayers of Adams county instead of reading a budget at a meeting and its a large amount and its listed miscellaneous that its broke down to what it is that will add up to the total amount as listed for one example!! These leaders should be held accountable to the taxpayers by the laws of the state of Ms.!! Gosh, you have all this high dollar computers and high techs running this equipment should in no way say they can’t break the budget down and ledgeable to read as a common taxpayer with out holding your hand up and say what is this??!!

  • Anonymous

    Not only should the public know, but the elected officials should also. Their past performance indicates they have not had regular updates on the budget or if asked for, it was unavailable due to unsolved accounting glitches. In the city, now that they have at least 2 people in the City Clerk’s office who should be in the know, your suggestion should be that much easier since now they shouldn’t have to “back into” a starting point as recently reported. In the county, since they don’t know the value of over $3MM of outstanding fines, it seems there is little interest in managing nickels and dimes. They’d rather not step on Ms. Bailey’s toes than to make her and her staff do the work they are being paid and given raises to do. Mr. Murray should be able to provide this information as a public records request with the touch of a button, same with the city.
    As properly stated, many projects are non-recurring and budgets fluctuate accordingly, however, the responsible parties should be able to document an authorized spending level, current year budget allocation for that project, percentage of completion, and authorized overruns or late penalties due on at least a quarterly basis. This budget should include allocations for salaries of rec. directors, tourism promoters, or other mid year add-ons that inflate the budget. Under this scenario, you will see officials begin to take a more direct interest in properly forecasting expenditures rather than everything being a knee jerk without funding allocated. This, above all, will make the city and county begin to work together as wished in another recent article.

  • http://www.natchezdemocrat.com khakirat

    Very well put for even quick books would do a lot with out all them high dollar programs and computers bought!! You know I think these folks are just trying to make it look hard so the common taxpayer can’t understand their codes ??!!

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