Letter to the Editor

Tired of lack of accountability from city government

Saturday, January 4, 2014

To the editor:

I just read the paper for Dec. 31 and was shocked and amazed. Everyone in Blytheville should be demanding answers from our mayor. The Finance Committee said we had a deficit of $754,000 which was unaccountable. Unaccountable! How can you spend $754,000 and NOT be able to account for where it was spent?

Has this administration not learned its lesson from the previous administration? If our mayor cannot do a better job of handling the funds in trusted to him, then I suggest he step down from his position and let the people vote in a new mayor, someone who will serve the city with more integrity. Perhaps Ms. Bell isn't the only one who needs to be facing prosecution.

I will also remind the citizens once again of another injustice that's been going on for some time now. There is no revenue being reported from parks and rec other than the 1/4-cent sales tax revenue that was voted on by the people. Did you forget that the city pool, baseball complex and golf course all have revenue that is not being reported? The golf course took in $330,000 in revenue last year. That means the city reports a budget of $500,000 but fails to subtract the revenue from the course. Those funds appear to be going into the general fund and is not being reported as revenue, leaving the general public to believe the golf course is costing way more than it actually is. So is the revenue from the golf course unaccountable too and should that number be added to the $754,000 that is already unaccountable?

So now let's ask the same question about the city pool and the baseball complex. Where is the revenue from each of these, and how much revenue do they generate? My point is, I'm tired of money disappearing with no accountability.

$754,000 is the approximate amount that the CN reported a couple months ago, that the city had borrowed from parks and rec with the intention of repayment by years end. If I'm correct, it sounds pretty shady and I think we deserve answers better than what we've been given. Now every department has to cut their budget by 7 percent to make up for this loss which was a result of poor management which ends in deceit or unaccountability.

The 7 percent could be used to tear down and clean up dilapidated housing. Our mayor needs to take a hard look at the way he has conducted business while in office. I, for one, am running out of patience. I was forgiving, knowing that he came into office with a huge tax dilemma left to deal with by the previous administration. But enough is enough, and our city can not continue to mismanage funds without being accountable.

Step it up or step down.

William Masterson
Blytheville