Camden County Broke?

This is a really good thing to try and accomplish to find out where the money is really going. When the State comes in and does an audit some of the things they check are:
Board Meetings and minutes
Bidding for services
Good record keeping
Checks and balances of money accounts
State and Federal laws being followed as well as other record keeping

If the citizens do get this accomplished, the County will be charged for the audit. They will be given a time limit to answer for any descrepencies, the State Auditors office will give the County ideals on how to correct any problem areas. This will make the commission accountable. But in the long run, the citizens will pay again because of the cost.

They need to be made to post agenda's on their meetings and make available to the public their minutes. These are all required by the Sunshine Law.

It's time to get rid of the "Good ole boy" system. Hopefully the county has grown in the last several years and wants more then this system.

Another place to check is who originally owned the old laclede electric building that the county bought, might be a little conflict of interest!

Sign the petition and get the hourly employees what the county owes them and the citizens what their tax dollars are collected for. Make the commissioners answer for their decisions, and make them answer not say they don't have that information right now.

That's right, my screen name says it all. The Camden County Commission needs to be held accountable for where the money is spent and why. The Commission has said they would stop receiving mileage reimbursement....but did they?? Instead, they will be taking money out of the employees paychecks, employees that are barely making payments and feeding their families. SHAME ON THEM!!!!!! And the Sheriff's Department has been harrassed constantly by them as if they haven't cut back and cut back and made more cut backs. So much for the tax that was passed for them.

What's really interesting is Caroyln Loraine doesn't know the dollar amount of witheld pay the day after Thanksgiving Day comes to. WOW!!!! Cheat the employees and ask later??? How sad indeed.

I truely hope that the petition to have a State Audit is signed in a hurry. OH...that brings up another interesting point. Why isn't the yearly audit bid on? I think that $60,000 for an audit should be bid out, don't you agree?

Well, I hope this bit of information will help the public know just what's going on with their tax dollars.

From KY3: http://www.ky3.com/younews/65817537.html

Camden Co Commission Forces Day w/o Pay
by flynbynite (Subscribe)
Posted on: Oct 23, 2009 at 2:27 PM CDT
Channel: Local News
Location: Camdenton Missouri
Tags:
Springfield

The Camden County Commissioners are forcing the hourly employees to take a day off without pay. The have issued a written statement to the employees today that reads, "With the Thanksgiving holiday rapidly approaching, people are making plans to visit family and friends. The courthouse will be closed this Friday after Thanksgiving, however due to the drop in the economy; this will be counted as a day without pay. Employees will not be able to use vacation, sick or personal days to cover this. We are sorry for this inconvenience. The Camden County Commission". This is completely uncalled for since the Commissioners already told the other elected officials that the budget for this year had be cut sufficiently. All of this while the Commissioners continue to take fuel reimbursement checks for driving to and from work, which Presiding Commissioner, Carolyn Loraine stated they would discontinue due to the budget situation. Loraine is also responsible for a lawsuit by Camden Co. that has drained the County in excess of $300,000.00 dollars over some "sunshine laws" involving James Dickerson and the Council of Local Government. A complete waste of Camden Co. tax payers money. The attorney hired to handle the matter is from St. Louis, where the Loraines are originally from, so this comes as a VERY high price tag to Camden Co. There needs to be an investigation into the spend by the commissioners of Camden County. Sticking it to your hourly employees is NOT the answer, especially when the tax revenues for this year have gone back up.

Concerned Citizen says ...
Today at 1:18 PM
Commenter
Lots more stuff that the citizens don't know...what about the rumor that the attorney representing Camden County used to be a partner in a firm with Mrs. Lorraine's husband....is this true? Or is it merely a rumor? Cutting employees pay is wrong!

The commissioners are spending money on unnecessary lawsuits like the one against James Dickerson for some reason of "principle". They hired an expensive attorney from St. Louis, hmmm...go figure, to defend the county and have spent hundreds of thousands on this alone! Look it up at Missouri Courts or Case Net. The Commissioners also said they would forfeit the travel expense money they get to drive to and from work. Have they done that yet, to the tune of about $500.00 per Commish a month?? And, what's happening to the money the commissioner's office gets for doing Passports? That went to two of the office employees as a "bonus" for the last two years! And as "rainman" mentioned, private audit for the county to the tune of $75,000.00 when other first class counties are paying half or even a third of that! Why doesn't that get bid out ?? Taxes for retail sales are up for the county this year so that's no excuse. These commissioners have driven this county into debt early on and it was only complicated by the drop in the economy. If county money hadn't been squandered away on foolishness, ie.. Clarity Consulting high dollar HR services, and who knows what else, maybe we would have had enough saved for a rainy day. Or in this case, YEAR! Forcing employees to reduce hours, take days without pay, and making them pay a percentage of their insurance is NOT the answer. Send a message to your Commissioners, STOP THE FOOLISH SPENDING! Cut your own costs FIRST. Call your State Auditor and ask for an audit by the state. Find out where the money goes. Who knows what else an audit would find in this rat's nest. HOLD THESE COMMISSIONERS ACCOUNTABLE!!

The employees of Camden County not only did NOT receive raises this year, but the County commissioners also CUT THE HOURS of several of those employees, thereby taking money away from them. Yet the County commissioners STILL get their allotted salary of over $55,000 per year, and are only required to work 32 hours per week. Several of the departments had their budgets cut severely. Some of the departments are not able to replace positions where employees have left. For example, last year, the Maintenance department (building and grounds) had 6 full-time employees; now there are 4 part-time employees. That has happened in several of the county’s departments.

Some of the county employees that are lucky enough to still have a full-time position, make less than $20,000 per year gross. Of that amount, an employee can expect $6,000 to go to taxes, leaving $14,000 per year, or $538 per paycheck (county employees get paid every two weeks). If that employee has children covered by their health insurance through the county, they lose an additional $150 per paycheck for that insurance, leaving $388 per check. By the way, the County commission has been talking about making the employee CONTRIBUTE even more money out of their paychecks for health insurance. Now, let’s see what that leaves that employee and his/her family: $388 per check x 26 checks per year = $10,088 divided by 12 months = $840 per month minus $400 per month for rent/mortgage = $440 per month minus $100 per month (averaging throughout the year) for electricity = $340 per month left over for food for that employee and his/her children. Heaven help that employee if one of his/her children, or even him/her self, gets hurt or sick requiring medical care and/or a hospital stay, which their insurance does not cover fully ($1,000 per year per person deductible, then 80% - 20% split).

If the County commissioners want to save money, why don’t they look at other options rather than hurting the employees? Try having all of the departments work Monday through Thursday, 10-hours per day (other than the Sheriff’s department that has to operate 24 hours per day, 7 days per week – I personally do NOT want to see our law enforcement cut since we just voted to have more people put on the force), and close the county’s administration building (the old court house) Friday through Sunday. This will save the county in the lighting, heating/cooling, and water use of that building. Several organizations have done this nationwide and saved money.

Instead of having the same private company auditors come in every year to “audit” the county (paid for with county tax money), I believe there should be an audit of the county’s finances performed by the State Auditor’s office. The County commissioners have been saying for too long that the county does not have money to spare. Enough of my money goes to the county through my taxes. Of the over 40,000 people who live in Camden County, I believe there should be plenty of money in the county coffers. WHERE IS THE MONEY?