In this morning's Daily Times the public was fed more misinformation from the Tilghman administration as well as hypocrisy. Again, City Adminstrator John Pick is the Tilghman appointee charged with feeding falsehood to the taxpayers and voters of Salisbury.
This is not a question of whether the administration lied to its citizens, but simply one of when. They were either lying when they stated that they did not need additional staff, or they are lying now.
Pick's (and the administration's hypocrisy) comes to play when Pick now claims that:
Of course this does not explain the fact that the administration has lied at least twice about this same issue. As shown above, Pick blames the problem on staffing levels. On Friday, Pick told WBOC:
What you have not read (seen, or heard) in the media is that the Barrie Tilghman administration didn't even know how much in property tax revenue they were owed. Think about that when you go to pay your property taxes. If the auditor didn't reconcile the accounts for the city, they still would know how much they were owed at the end of last June. They probably don't have a clue what they were owed at the end of December, 2007.
Another item that you are not seeing in the mainstream media is the administration's willingness to not only mislead the public, but their refusal to tell the truth to the City Council. Time and again, City Finance Director Pam Oland, along with at least one member of her staff, have stated that they are reconciling cash and investment accounts each month. According to the auditor this is probably true (at least since February or March of 2007). The problem lies with the competence of the staff and the fact that management DID NOT review the work of that staff. The auditor clearly states that reconciliations were not done properly and they were not reviewed by Oland or her chief assistant in Finance.
If you are a Salisbury tax payer and want to see the best (and cheapest) show in town, head on down to the GOB Monday around 4 PM. As we stated Friday, things are getting a little too complicated for Barrie and her crew to keep fibbing on the fly. Watching them explain this fiasco should be sadly entertaining.
cross posted at Delmarva Dealings
Technorati Tags: Maryland, Salisbury, politics, Salisbury politics, fiscal policy, corruption, scandal, Barrie Tilghman, John Pick, Pam Oland, audit
City Administrator John Pick stressed the financial wing of the Internal Services Division, with three people shouldering all accounting duties -- including director Pamela Oland -- continues to be severely understaffed.How many times has Councilwoman Debbie Campbell (and since her recent election, Councilwoman Terry Cohen) asked the administration if they needed additional staff in order to discharge their duties properly, and on time? Each time, either Mayor Tilghman, Pick, or city finance chief Pam Oland has stated that they did not need additional staff. Now that they have been caught in the midst of a financial scandal, they don't have enough staff.
This is not a question of whether the administration lied to its citizens, but simply one of when. They were either lying when they stated that they did not need additional staff, or they are lying now.
Pick's (and the administration's hypocrisy) comes to play when Pick now claims that:
He will recommend the council include in the June budget space for adding an extra accountant and a financial analyst.Time and again, the question has been raised, but the administration has stated that they didn't need any more staff. When the budget is presented, DO NOT be surprised that the Tilghman administration will propose to cut a fairly popular or important city service and claim that it's necessary to pay for additional staff in the Department of Internal Services (Finance). Will the Mayor cut the bureaucracy that she has been feeding throughout her tenure? Highly doubtful.
Of course this does not explain the fact that the administration has lied at least twice about this same issue. As shown above, Pick blames the problem on staffing levels. On Friday, Pick told WBOC:
"They thought they were doing it correctly but they were not. They thought those adjustments were supposed to be made at the end of the year, but that's not correct. That's corrected now," said Pick, who noted the adjustments are supposed to be made each month.Which is it John? Not enough people? People who don't know how to do their job? According to the city's auditors both are false. We won't argue that the city needs more competent people in the finance department (the auditor has recommended this for at least two years), but the auditor found the lost $10.2 million, not the finance department when they reconciled the accounts at the end of the year.
What you have not read (seen, or heard) in the media is that the Barrie Tilghman administration didn't even know how much in property tax revenue they were owed. Think about that when you go to pay your property taxes. If the auditor didn't reconcile the accounts for the city, they still would know how much they were owed at the end of last June. They probably don't have a clue what they were owed at the end of December, 2007.
Another item that you are not seeing in the mainstream media is the administration's willingness to not only mislead the public, but their refusal to tell the truth to the City Council. Time and again, City Finance Director Pam Oland, along with at least one member of her staff, have stated that they are reconciling cash and investment accounts each month. According to the auditor this is probably true (at least since February or March of 2007). The problem lies with the competence of the staff and the fact that management DID NOT review the work of that staff. The auditor clearly states that reconciliations were not done properly and they were not reviewed by Oland or her chief assistant in Finance.
If you are a Salisbury tax payer and want to see the best (and cheapest) show in town, head on down to the GOB Monday around 4 PM. As we stated Friday, things are getting a little too complicated for Barrie and her crew to keep fibbing on the fly. Watching them explain this fiasco should be sadly entertaining.
cross posted at Delmarva Dealings
Technorati Tags: Maryland, Salisbury, politics, Salisbury politics, fiscal policy, corruption, scandal, Barrie Tilghman, John Pick, Pam Oland, audit
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16 comments:
GA, you are so kind. Let's get to the heart of this. Barrie hired Pam Oland, CPA, not just an accountant with a college degree but a LICENSED CERTIFIED public accountant. Fibs? You are so kind. They are outright LIES. The audit report is evidence of one of two things; 1. sloppy bookwork or 2. an attempt to cover something up. Which is it? If it is sloppy bookwork, then fire all of them and lets start from scratch with competent people. The audit will be late, with good reason. If they are trying to cover something up then lets get a grand jury investigation going on and find out just what it is.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
Donna
What possible reason would Tilghman,Pick et al;lie about something they did not need to lie about,unless they did need to lie about it.
Is this merely and embarresing incident brought about my mis-management or could it be a cover up of something more serious than afore said mis-management.
What about the OTHER $8,800,000.00 they FOUND in the Water & Sewer Fund? The Council chose to save face and reject that increase, yet the Mayor still wanted it to go though. So we're looking at $8.8 mil there and $10.2 mil, a total of $19,000,000.00 in the past few months????? Oversight MY ASS! Read the letter!!!!! FIRE THEM ALL!
http://www.ci.salisbury.md.us/cityclerk/BriefingBook/Briefing_Book.pdf
Everybody who can needs to get their tails down there Monday like this post says.
DON'T LET THEM BLOW THIS OFF!!!!
Here is the only person named "Oland" listed as a CPA in Maryland:
DEBORAH LYNNE OLAND 30649 HEATHER GLEN DRIVE SALISBURY MD 21804
Our "Oland" not be a qualified CPA, athough she may have worked for Arthur Anderson (the firm that "did" Enron's work).
The solution: fire Oland ASAP and dump Barrie in next year's election
Pam:
After you read this comment, please post and tell us if you are a CPA and, if so, where you got licensed.
PAMELA L BIERLY 5929 JUMPERS COURT
SALISBURY MD 21801 2009-03-21 ACTIVE C.P.A. 200095
This is Pam Oland, apparently, she is licensed under her maiden name.
Paragraph 2 of the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutors office.
http://www.ospmd.org/
"The State Prosecutor may investigate on his own initiative, or at the request of the Governor, the Attorney General, the General Assembly, the State Ethics Commission, or a State's Attorney, certain criminal offenses. These include: 1) State election law violations; 2) State public ethics law violations; 3) State bribery law violations involving public officials or employees; 4) misconduct in office by public officials or employees; and 5) extortion, perjury, or obstruction of justice related to any of the above."
Ok Davis Ruark, the ball is in your court. We the people have had enough. When does that Grand Jury convene?
I've looked into Pam Olands license status at the Maryland DLLR website and can't find anyone named "Pam Oland" licensed as a CPA in Maryland.
This is the second time in a year that a SUBSTANTIAL amount of money has been located that no one seemed to know existed. 10.2 million and 8.8 million prior.
The system of checks and balances has been essentially gutted due to the fact that the mayor has apparently denied unfettered access to information relating to the financial workings of the city. It is my understanding that "certain" council people have been required to fill out FOI act paperwork relating to the aforementioned information and have been made to pay for the copies from their own pockets. This information should be made immediately available to any citizen who requests it. It looks more and more all the time like the mayor intentionally throws these roadblocks in front of anyone who questions her. She needs to go.
I am not a citizen of the City of Salisbury, but I am a citizen of Wicomico County. I think we can all agree that Salisbury is the economic hub of Wicomico County. When something negative such as this, or the massive closing of businesses, or the initiative to run a six foot diameter pipe to drain raw storm water into the Wicomico River, (just to name a few) occurs in the City of Salisbury, it effects us all.
I will be at the City council meeting tommorrow. I want to hear first hand how this astonomical amount of money can slip through the cracks, because it seems to me that this may not be the first time this has happened. I sincerely hope that the citizens of Salisbury show up in unprecedented numbers to demand answers to very tough questions and to demand the resignations from those who have seemingly forgotten for whom they work.
To the Citizens of the City of Salisbury I say this: If you will stand by and take this, those responsible will feed you anything. These people work for you! They are NOT on some pedestal above you. Demand answers. Demand resignations. Let your elected officials know that you want the truth as well as the govt. in the daylight you have been promised. Anything less is not acceptable.
What will YOU leave behind for your children and grandchildren.
Bob Harris, I found this on DLLR site.
PAMELA L BIERLY 5929 JUMPERS COURT
SALISBURY MD 21801 2009-03-21 ACTIVE C.P.A. 200095
If you run the name and address through www.411.com you will see it is Pam Oland. She is listed under both names, Oland and Bierly
4) misconduct in office by public officials or employees;
This one covers it.
Anon 5:04
Thanks for clearing that up. That certainly clears up the possibility that she didn't know any better. I hope the truth in this case comes out quickly.
Bob, I agree with you completely. She knew and she knows exactly what is going on, there are no excuses. John Picks lame excuses of them not knowing or being in need of training does not hold water. We ALL need to contact Davis Ruark and ask him to file this with the State Prosecutors office.
Whoever said enough is enough is correct. Enough IS enough. I've had more than my fill.
Oland was asked by council persons if she needed outside help to get the audit finished and on time. There is no excuse this time.
Its amazing to me that anyone sees this fiasco as a moderate mistake by untrained staff. If these people were working anywhere else they would be fired. This problem was uncovered last year in the February 8th audit for 2006. It makes you question what else is going on that we don't know about. I'm not sure what is more appalling, the fact that this happened, or the fact that the administration in charge of the city is not as appalled as the voices here.
Read last years recommendations from Trice, Geary and Myers here for yourself. http://www.ci.salisbury.md.us/
LinkClick.aspx?link=Press%2
FAuditMgmtLetter.pdf&tabid=531
&mid=926
(You will have to enter the previous string manually as ahref tags are not supported here.)
It seems that recommendations were made very clear in regards to reconciling specific accounts. Will they get it right next year? If they don't, will we just accept it?
"A rule is not a rule, without a consequence."
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