Letter to the Editor

City's financial woes go beyond IRS mess

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

To the editor:

The mayor's statement, "anger won't solve the IRS problem" is true, and neither will the 1/4-cent sales tax. It is ridiculous to not investigate the situation to determine what is happening to the taxpayers' money and to find out "the who, what, where, when and how" the money is disappearing.

There is no person in city government that can state by supported facts what happened to the $3.2 million of IRS money. The same people, with the exception of a few, were still in control when the $3.2 million disappeared.

In addition, there have been millions of dollars that disappeared over the years, and the questions that were asked were ignored and the issues swept under the rug. As recently as last week, another $130,000 was reported missing by the city attorney without any explanation. Over the past 10 to 15 years, there have been millions of dollars that were spent illegally and without the necessary checks and balances to ensure that the money was not stolen, given away or misspent, and there were no investigations to determine what happened to the money.

This same story has been told over and over again without any actions taken to determine where the money went. Some of the same government officials in the operations of city government have been in the employment of the city government for years in the decision-making process, and there has been no investigations as far as the public has knowledge to determine the facts of the missing money.

Isn't it about time for some facts to be gathered so as to find an answer for the cause of the disappearance of taxpayer's money?

Look at the records; sales taxes are not the answer. More money extenuates the same problems.

Edward Ray Clouse
Blytheville