Kudos to Editor Matt Ward for the timely and well written article, New Clerk/Auditor Inherits Records Mess published August 28 of this year. It’s about time this accurate, much needed information was made public. In paragraph two Mr. Ward states “officials have authorized spending throughout 2018 without a clear understanding of where the county’s balances sit.” As David Palacios commented to me “who doesn’t balance their check book?” Right?!
The citizens of this county will be making some very crucial decisions in a couple of weeks as to who will be elected to turn this sinking ship around, a ship on the verge of deficit. So what are the tough questions that need to be addressed to each candidate, from Clerk/Auditor to those running for the two Commissioner’s seats?
Logical ones would be, (1) what qualifications and experience does the candidate have to be elected to a supervisor position? And (2) what is their proposed plan to resolve the situation the county is in?
To begin, my first comment is addressed to the interim Clerk/Auditor Seth Marsing concerning his excuses for the recent Auditor’s failure to keep accurate records. On page 10 of the Sun Advocate, related to the above mentioned article, Marsing states “he (Oveson) had a lot of outside things he was doing. He did all the financials for seven counties….He did outside tax returns….he was doing a lot of things.” Okay Seth, it is time to accept responsibility for our choices and actions, not hide behind childish excuses. Mr Oveson was elected to serve Carbon County first, NOT allow his outside employment to eclipse his duty to the citizens who entrusted him to soundly handle the county’s finances. If he was so overwhelmed and busy, he should have dropped his outside jobs and honorably fulfilled his responsibilities to the county or resigned from the Clerk/Auditor position early on. ALL elected officials need to make the county their priority. After all, taxpayers pay their salary and benefits.
Clerk/Auditor: There are two candidates running for this job, a position that pays $81,000 (transparent.utah.gov.) plus benefits yearly. Let’s ask question #1 concerning qualifications and experience. One candidate has almost 15 years’ experience with the county, 6 serving in the Assessor’s office and 9 in the Clerk/Auditor’s office. The other candidate has zero. My question is; where in the private sector are you hired in a supervisory role without any experience or knowledge of how that department operates? Why should a public position, at tax payer’s expense, be held to a lesser standard? Looking at all the elected county positions, the current Assessor worked in that office for 14 years before taking on the supervisor position. The County Attorney was a deputy for 10 years before serving this county for almost 30 years as County Attorney and his soon to be successor has 12 years’ experience in this department. The Sherriff worked in law enforcement for 22 years. The Recorder worked for Price City 10 years doing the same job before coming to the county. And the Treasurer worked diligently and closely for 26 years with three different Clerk/Auditors and several commissioners before taking on the supervisor role in that department. Knowledge and experience are crucial to running a department efficiently and effectively. NOT which political party a candidate is aligned with. NOT what religious denomination they belong to. And certainly NOT what their family connections are.
The Clerk/Auditor should meet with the department heads every four to six weeks to see where each individual department is financially, as was the policy under former County Clerks Bob Pero and Norm Prichard. This policy was not adhered to by Mr. Oveson, so if individual departments didn’t keep an accurate record of their own budgets, they had no idea what was there. No wonder the county is in a mess. My friend, who was a deputy Clerk in the Clerk’s office with Norm Prichard for years, stated “Norm would always remind everyone that we don’t rob Peter to pay Paul.” A concept our former Clerk/Auditor and current commissioners don’t understand. And Mr. Pero would religiously send out financials to make sure everyone was on the same page. Should any questions arise or if he had any concerns, Mr. Pero would call that department head in and they would discuss the budget, working together to figure out what was needed to be done. But if the Clerk/Auditor is too busy with outside interests, these sound practices are put on the back burner.
The Clerk/Auditor should have the fortitude to stand up to the commissioners and hold them responsible for expenditures and not sign off on every want just to please. In years past, when presented with wants by former commissioners, Clerk Pero would say “What is the offset?” In other words, where is the money coming from? What is the trade off? And they, the commissioners, would have to figure it out before any money was spent.
Question #2: What does each candidate propose to fix the mess the Auditor’s office is in? Ask each candidate to explain in depth what it will take and what they are willing to sacrifice to make it happen. Once again, this is where experience and knowledge are critical because with knowledge comes the wisdom to make sound choices, not excuses.
County Commissioners: There are six candidates running for the two open commission seats, three for each position. Besides the two former questions, a third and important one for these candidates would be; can the candidate give full time service, at least 30 hours per week, to the county? The commission position pays approximately $53,000 (transparent.utah.gov.) plus benefits, a $15,000 package yearly. There are over 160 personnel employed at Carbon County who receive benefits. To qualify for this, an employee must work at least 30 hours per week. Why should the commissioners be held to a lesser standard? It is going to take hard work and dedication to turn the downward spiral the county is in around. Tough decisions are going to need to be made and adhered to. Monthly, if not weekly, meetings with department heads should be held, a practice former commissioners did. This will require time, lots of time.
The 2010 state audit report showed that the accumulated undesignated surpluses were 13.7 million in the general fund and just over 1 million in the municipal service fund, a total of 14.7 million in surplus. The 2017 report, which came out in August, showed “the county’s financial position…to have deteriorated overall (page 10 article).” The general fund now has a balance of 2.5 million and the municipal fund 3.3 for a total of 5.8 million in surplus. That is a loss of 9 million dollars surplus in seven years. But the B road fund had over 4 million dollars surplus in 2016 and the current audit showed this fund was depleted 2 million this past year, robbing Peter to pay Paul. What this equates to is; Carbon County is down 11 million dollars in seven years. Not much is left in surplus. At this rate, the county will be broke in less than two years. Six of the past seven years, excess spending decisions and poor management of the records have been made by Commissioners representing the Republican Party and a Clerk/Auditor, Democrat turned Republican. Now this statement is not intended to produce ire, but rather to illustrate a point.
In the mid 1980’s, Carbon County was facing a deficit, just like today. The controlling party at that time was Democrat; similar situation, two different parties. The point here is a particular party does not make government sound, rather those elected who will be making the decisions do. To vote for a candidate strictly on party affiliation is both absurd and very careless. Look what a mess voting strictly Republican has got this county in. It’s not the party, but the experience and qualifications of the candidate running for office that is important. Also, it is very important that a candidate is in a position to give the time necessary to do the job adequately and not pursue outside business, traveling around the country and abroad with other employment.
We need to elect candidates who are willing to show up to work and do their job, not make excuses like Commissioner Potter who admitted that even after the State Auditor recommended last November the Commissioners hold monthly meetings with the Treasurer Kay Colosimo and then Clerk/Auditor Seth Oveson, only two were held all year of which he had “very little information (page 1 article).” The current audit report shows that the Commissioners spent 2.7 million more than was received in revenue last year. This figure has been verified by the State Auditor’s office. Yet Commissioner Potter wants us to believe that he has “a great responsibility to make sure the budget is there (article).” Really?! Commissioners need to work from a balanced budget, save (not spend) for the future, and make Carbon County their number one priority.
This election is crucial. The citizens of Carbon County will determine if its government will operate financially in the black or if it will continue in the downward spiral and be in the red in less than two years. So when voting: Forget party alignment, vote for experience and qualifications. Forget religious affiliation, vote for experience and qualifications. Forget family connections, vote experience and qualifications. It is time to turn the sinking ship around.
Barbara Strate
ETV 10 News invites you to share your opinions with its readers. Letters to the editor should include your full name, address and phone number. Only your name and the city you live in will be published. We do not publish anonymous letters. Letters can be emailed to sdraper@emerytelcom.com or mailed to ETV 10 News, 625 E 100 N, Price, UT 84501.
*Disclaimer: The views expressed in Letters to the Editor are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or policy of ETV 10 News or Emery Telcom.