SAUK VILLAGE |The Village Board received a copy of the audit from April, 2014 which was due in October but as they say better late than never. Susan Jones of Miller Cooper and Company of Deerfield, Illinois presented a 7 page management report to the Village Board. The 12 month audit report, which has been available on the Illinois Comptroller’s website since mid-January was only presented to the Trustees on Tuesday. The audit paints a bleak picture of the village’s finances the Village’s net position is showing a multi-million dollar deficit and deficits in various funds.
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| Chart provided by SAUK VILLAGER NEWS: History of the General Fund Balance since 1999 (Source: Village Audits) |
Despite the fact that Hanks’s 2013-14 Budget called for $5.2
million in revenue the Village actually brought in $5.6 million but still outspent the
revenues brought it by some $493,610. For
the 12-month period ending April 30, 2014, the audit reveals that the Hanks
Administration spent $6,149,110 well more than was taken in adding to the
General Fund deficit. The General Fund
began the fiscal year with a deficit of $1.38 million and ballooned to $2.02
million by April 30, 2014. The General
Fund funds police and general administration functions for the Village.
Trustee Derrick Burgess, who voted no on the most recent
budget, projected in his budget analysis that the General Fund will be $962,677
in deficit going into this budget cycle in July, 2014 and the actual amount
according to the audit report is $632,706.
Burgess said that this figure would have been even greater had the
Village booked the additional $758,080 which was owing at the beginning of the
fiscal year. The actual amount is
probably worse than even Burgess projected which would balloon the General Fund
Deficit to closer to $2.7 million according to the Audit Report.
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| Above Chart was created by Trustee Burgess. Hanks disagreed with Burgess's Analysis and the circle and arrow indicates where Hanks thought the numbers were going to be. Hanks's comments are in the box above The TRUTH is that BURGESS WAS RIGHT! |
Mayor David Hanks called Burgess’s General Fund projections
“skewed and incorrect” and Hanks actually was calling for a more modest deficit
of $700,000 in July during Hanks’s 2 ½ hour review of Burgess’s Budget analysis. The actual numbers are about what Burgess had
projected at about $2 million in deficit.
Burgess said that if there are no changes in the policy of this
administration that the General Fund Deficit will continue to sink near $3
million.
“This is proof positive that the current budget that this
Board passed was anything but balanced” Burgess said. “I tried to warn the Village Board then that
this budget was not right, provided a 23 page analysis pointing out some points
we were going to have a difficult time with and asked to work together on
solutions and was slapped down in a political game. I’m not playing a game. I was elected to
represent the residents and nobody should run their business or a government
the way that this village has been running” Burgess said.
Burgess warned his fellow board members Tuesday night that
they are responsible for the finances of the Village and they will be held to
account for the votes that they take on the finances of the Village.
Also revealed in the Audit report is a mess that the Hanks
Administration appears to be kicking the can to another administration to
address the unfunded pension obligations.
The Village’s Police Pension Fund is owed some $2.2 million and other
post-employment benefits totaling some $784,000 nearly $3 million. Hanks has not directed a penny into the
Police Pension Fund since taking office.
The Police Pension Fund has not had an independent Audit conducted or
filed since 2008.
The Hanks Administration also blew past the amounts
appropriated by the Village Board of Trustees to the tune of $1,620,545 without
a supplemental appropriations ordinance the Audit Report revealed.
To view the entire 2013-14 Audit Report: CLICK HERE
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