Overruns require questions

    One of the biggest concerns of Citizens for Responsible City Management (CFRCM) is the diligence that is used when spending the taxpayers’ dollars.     A good case in point is the August financial statement that was presented to the city council by Manager Buck at the September 14th, 2009 meeting. He did not go over all of the accounts, but went over some of the “high spots” so to speak. One of the accounts, which was not brought up, was the Capital Improvement – Fire Department Kitchen Remodel. There was a budget of $7,000 for that job. The actual expenditure, according to this statement, was $10,187.66, an over-expenditure of $3,187.66, or 45 percent. The comment on this overage was “ department to reconcile overdraft.” How? Now, one could argue that this is just a blip on the radar when you consider how large the overall budget is, but it wouldn’t take many of these before you had an incoming missile! CFRCM’s concern is that not one of the six councilors present that evening even asked why this remodel was so far off the mark.
    Now, the irony of this whole matter is that at the June council meeting, the May financial statement that had been presented to the council showed the fire department’s kitchen remodel with that same $7,000 budget had an actual expenditure of $7,152.13 and the comment was “project is complete and overage of $152.13 will be reconciled by the Chief.” How can a project that was completed in May, with a small overage of $152.13, show up on the September statement with a huge overage of $3,187.66. And why didn’t anyone ask the reason for this?
    CFRCM’s spokesperson did ask Mayor Murchison about this issue. Mayor Murchison’s reply was: “ On the issue of our annual financials I do believe that you will not find another community that enjoys the detailed financial reports that Caribou receives monthly. As far as the cost overrun on the Fire Department kitchen project please know that this did not go unnoticed. The fact that no councilor present had comment on this issue means to me as chair that they were satisfied with the proposed resolution for this topic and rest assured that we will follow this issue closely to make sure that it is indeed resolved.”
    I guess my question would be why would you, as councilors, be satisfied with a proposed resolution to something that shouldn’t need resolving in the first place? The kitchen was completed in May, and the overage of $152.13 could truly be called just a blip on the radar. So where did this extra $3,187.66 come from? That wasn’t explained in Mayor Murchison’s response. Don’t you, the taxpayer, deserve to know the answer?
    Election day will soon be upon us. It’s probably time for change. Please vote.
    The City Charter is now available on CaribouWatch.com.
    The next meeting will be held at the Van Buren Road Lodge on Wednesday, Oct. 14th at 6:30 pm. All are welcome.