From today's News-Gazette:
A nearly $1.2 million discrepancy in expenses between two county reports is one of at least two financial problems with the county's nursing home that can be fixed, a University of Illinois accountancy professor said Thursday.
"There is a problem with data integrity, but it's a fixable problem," said Rachel Schwartz, who is an unpaid consultant to the county board.
Schwartz outlined two issues with the nursing home finances to members of both the county board finance committee and the nursing home board of directors during a joint committee meeting Thursday night.
I think redstatewannabe has mentioned some concerns with CCNH accounting before, but I can't recall the particulars.
my guess is the county board has been using the unaudited books. After seeing audited statements they now see a problem that is $1.2 million bigger than they had been told. If true, this is totally irresponsible, and someone should be held accountable.
"someone should be held accountable."
Good luck with that.
Speaking of "accountable" - ouch! (And I am sure this doesn't include an amount for the free building that taxpayers are supplying the nursing home)
I am very curious to see that the end result is and what the root cause was. It may mean the difference between doubling our county tax rate and tripling it to support the nursing home bailout.
Currently the nursing home is in debt $3,000,000 and is facing deficits of $1.41M. I assume that number is the annual total deficit when reading the N-G. The county board has said that we will likely face deficits for at least 3 years. Even with fuzzy math, the outlook doesn't look good.
How are we going to pay for all this? Considering the disparity in reported numbers, I'm very concerned. If the county finances are screwed up, along with the reporting of the finances, how are they going to estimate how much to raise our taxes? Also, how will this situation factor in the (absolutely certain) deficits we'll face for the next several years (at best).
It will be beyond depressing if they triple our tax rate and determine that they undercalculated the amount they needed. Depressing.
I dont understand this lag time,,,,,,,a friend of mine and myself had access to these numbers,via an FOI request he made months ago. We have had experts look at these numbers months ago,,,,so why did this take so long for everyone else to figure out?
"so why did this take so long for everyone else to figure out?"
Figure what out? That the nursing home was screwed up or the specific reporting descrepency?
As an accounting person, I would like to read that report on the data integrety issue. It should (in theory) very easy to identify issues with A/P. It's not like we're debating one-time expenses vs. capital improvements. I'm dissapointed the N-G didn't provide us more detail on that issue.
$100,000/month * 12 months = $1.20M deficit <> $1.41M deficit. Maybe the additional $17, 500 per month is not material, but I wish people would at least round it closer...maybe start saying "losing $115,000/mo" even though it is still less than the actual $117,500/mo. Were they losing more money previously and managed to get to their l losses their losses down to $100,000/month at the end of the year? It seems like "until recently", the nursing home was losing $117,500 per month. You can call me picky if you want. : )
Hey, B, lighten up.
After all, the taxpayers will cover it. Just raise the taxes.
Nobody minds paying a little bit more tax, especially when it is for a noble cause, such as covering for graft and incompetency. We the sheeple luv our politicians and we are proud of our public institutions. Give us the check, we are pleased to pay.
Regnad Kcin said:
"...Give us the check, we are pleased to pay..."
I do not envy the County Board at all on the nursing home issue.
Voters DID pass a referendum supporting a new nursing home, and now (for several reasons) it is costing a lot more than anyone anticipated at the time. The County Board is most likely facing a situation where they either have to ask for more money from taxpayers to keep those doors open, or else shut the whole thing down--in spite of the vote to construct it and the outstanding bonds.
I am supremely grateful not to be facing this dilemma as a current member of the County Board. Sounds to me like they are gonna take a bunch of hits whichever way they go.
Laura
The voters will likely face another referendum to increase the property tax rate from .04 to .10 in order to keep it open. This will likely be on the same ballot as the county sales tax increase to assist the schools. I'm doing that math. That is more than doubling the tax rate. "Sounds to me like they are gonna take a bunch of hits whichever way they go." No doubt!
I always like the fall back,,,the voters DID approve the original idea etc,,,,,,,of course they were BS'ed into the real need for a new one. We also did not plan on a goofball admin, that allowed substandard building materials to be used,,,,we also did not plan on a county board spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on hired gun attorneys,,,,,,,that were not needed,and did nothing to earn their fees. We did not count on somebodys pocket man, to run the nursing home into the ground,,,,,and try to lie about the true condition of the place,,,,,violations,,,,,causing the death of an elderly woman,,,,etc. We now have two (at least ) big salaries on the county payroll,. Inman and Buffenbarger that are not worth a plug nickle between them. I get a detailed report, weekly on what is going on there,,,so they can sit and stew about that one for awhile.
"There is a problem with data integrity, but it's a fixable problem,"
I only wish that the County Board's integrity problem was a fixable one.
I am fortunate enough to be repersented on the board by some of the few people on the board with some common sense and without an intgrity problem. I hope that those of you who aren't as fortunate wise up and and be a little more selective on election day.
I wrote and wrote and wrote about all of this during the discussion time about the hiring of a consultant for the CCNH. I also wrote about a referendum to increase support for the nursing home would be on the November ballot. So my question to each and every one of you is what are you going to do about this related to the fall election and putting pressure on your county board representative between now and November. The board members really act no differently than our federal level representatives--as if they were not the cause of this whole mess.
Pattsi Petrie
If there ever was a time to "vote the bastards out" this has got to be it. There are no excuses for what has happened. There is clear incompetency. There is obvious violation of the public trust. Blaming any of this on "factors beyond the control of the county board" is to further admit lack of ability on the part of the board members, individually and collectively.
We definitely need to be working very hard to vote down the tax increases as well. If you feed incompetency it grows and grows.
The board members really act no differently than our federal level representatives--as if they were not the cause of this whole mess.
Pattsi, since you failed in your efforts to get your name on the ballot for county board this year, your constant criticism of the county board might appear to some as a bad case of sour grapes. Very sour grapes.
Let me assure one and all, there I have no sour grapes because I did not make it through the Democratic primary. I have many other things to do professionally, one being having just returned from an international urban planning conference and soon to attend another one--giving research presentations. Nonetheless, facts are facts. All one has to do is a content analysis of CB decisions, specifically related to the nursing home over many years to realize deriliction of duty.
Pattsi Petrie
"Pattsi, since you failed in your efforts to get your name on the ballot for county board this year, your constant criticism of the county board might appear to some as a bad case of sour grapes. Very sour grapes."
The notion that she should be less passionate about her opinions because she previously ran for CB and lost is annoying. I suspect she is part of a massive conspiracy to make the county a better place.
Pattsi,,,,,for what it is worth coming from me again.......Hang in there!! You have nothing to explain or apologize for, your dedication to the truth is really refreshing,,,,,and I wish I could still reach your level of being fired up about these things :)
I'll say it again, I really wish Petrie had won the primary. Can you imagine if we had even one county board member who was as informed about the CCNH as she is? I think it's safe to presume that the winner of that primary isn't anywhere near as knowledgable.
As for the 'sour grapes' comment, I expect Petrie isn't worried about anonymous commentors on IP and won't supress her discussion to make them happy. People who run for office for the right reasons (i.e. because they are passionate about the issues and willing to serve) aren't going to all of the sudden stop being passionate just because an election happened.
From the time of the botched construction to the present day, few people are willing to do more than bitch about this episode of the county board. When the voting booth opens, just do not vote for any incumbent. The same policy goes for tax referendums in the future, do not approve any increase in taxes. Elected officials and high level appointed/hired administrators need to be reminded that taxpayers are not endless wells of cash for their benefit. But watch out for the backlash, the first thing you will hear is cutbacks in service (ala Urbana Park District) rather than cuts in administrative overhead. Challenge the bastards at their own game, take back the government from the professional politicians.
What, Me Worry?