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I
will open my comments today by saying that I
sincerely hope that each and every one of you
had a blessed and fulfilled holiday season.
Now
I will remind you there are 15 days till Mardi
Gras, Lezzie Lez, Bon-Ton Roulle, Red White
and Blue, come get some beads.
In
the interest of briefly I will restrict my
report today to the issues surrounding the
Park Board.
Why
isn’t the Park Board more public and open to
the public….this one really confuses me
because the Park Board is an arm of the City,
a separate entity, but still an arm of the
City. Park
Board offices are located at 2504 Church; the
phone number is (409) 797-5147. The full Board
meets every second and fourth Tuesday and the
meetings begin at 1:30 P.M. The ad-hoc
committee meetings are posted at the Park
Board offices and they are held at the Board
offices. Time is allotted at every meeting of
the full Board for Public comment and the
agendas are available. The Board welcomes the
public and it’s comments but we are a public
entity and as such we are subject to rules,
laws and regulations governing meetings, our
responses and what we may and may not discuss.
We
are open to the public and our operation is as
public as it can be. Please contact me if you
have specific concerns.
Regarding
the specific issues as reported in the News.
High
priced business lunches and having gasoline
pumped at exorbitant prices are certainly
issues for this Board as are the response
comments that were issued. At this point I can
only tell you that an investigation into these
issues and the policies which permit there
occurrence will be conducted and once complete
a report will be issued. To make further
comment at this time would be premature and
inaccurate.
It
is, I believe, noteworthy that the items
brought forth were dated prior to the seating
of the current Board. Most of this occurred
under a previous administration at the Park
Board. However, preliminary research shows
that the policies that allow these proceedings
are still in place. As a result these policies
will be reviewed thoroughly as part of this
investigative process.
The
present Park Board has been seated for five
(5) months. In those months we have went
through a grueling budget ordeal, reviewed
numerous voluminous contracts and agreements,
prepared for and participated in the
Motorcycle Rally and we are two weeks from
Mardi Gras 05. Personnel and operational rules
and guidelines have not been ignored they
simply have not yet had there turn in the
limelight and been put through the scrutiny of
thorough review. This obviously must be moved
to the front burner.
The next issue is Mardi Gras 05. Mardi Gras is
alive and well. In the newspaper report a
decimal point was, I’m sure inadvertently,
moved a few spaces. The preliminary budget
showed a $135,898 net income this year (not a
$1.35 million as reported). It is true that
corporate sponsorships are down thus far and
as a result the budget was adjusted down to
compensate for the decline in incoming revenue
and the expenses were reduced to offset. The
bottom line is an adjusted budget that
reflects a $7,500 net revenue rather than the
$135,898. The positive side to these
preliminaries is that the bottom line
prediction is still positive rather than
negative. We must still pray for good weather
and encourage all to come out and enjoy.
There
are still vendor booths available and we are
still looking for sponsors so if we have
businesses or individuals out there that may
be interested please contact the Park Board
offices at (409) 797-5147 for more
information. Also be advised that discount
tickets are still available on line at www.mardigrasgalveston.com
The
next issue to be addressed is
financials.
The
last three years the Park Board has budgeted
and operated in deficit. For FY 03-04 a
$293,000 deficit was budgeted, the year ended
$294,000 deficit there is no big surprise
there. The surprise came when the Board was
told in August that we would end the FY over
$300,000 in the black but by November when the
final numbers were in we were exactly where we
started $294,000 in the red. Line for line
item for item that was explained at the next
Park Board meeting. The bottom line here is
that the positive numbers were based on
predictions and the predictions did not come
true. No one lied, no one stole money, no one
violated the law. The fact is the predicted
revenues were wrong, way wrong. But once again
most of this originated under a different
administration. The current Board worked
extremely hard as did the Park Board staff to
write a balanced budget for this fiscal year.
As always we are dependant on the weather and
we must pray for a good season but we did
start the budget year with a positive rather
than a negative balance. That was the good
news, then came the information that we had
possibly not budgeted for “depreciation”.
We have since learned that
“depreciation” has not ever been
“budgeted” for it is worked into the
year-end calculation by the accountants. At
the first finance committee meeting last week
we learned that “depreciation” must only
be budgeted in some funds but not in others
and no one seems to know the real number that
should be affixed to this “depreciation”.
In the final analysis I have concluded that
“depreciation” is a Tax Term and an
accounting procedure.
In all due respect, lawyers use terms
or words to convolute documents and kill trees
and accountants use numbers. Depreciation
simply means, you have to put X amount of
money aside each year in order to replace this
fixture (equipment, building) whatever it is)
but at this point no one can tell us exactly
what we have to set aside for nor how much.
What I can tell you is that there is not
$300,000 dollars to cut from this year’s
Park Board budget. It is not possible, without
closing down the Parks and leaving the beach
dirty with trash and debris on it throughout
the season. I do not believe anyone wants that
to be the case. Is writing the budget without
depreciation a problem? Maybe is this
something that we can work through and still
manage to keep things functioning? Yes it is.
This
Park Board has realized from the beginning
that we had to dig out of a hole and as a unit
we have made great strides in the right
direction. Ad-Hoc committees have been formed
to study finances and the distribution,
governance and origin of the pennies of sales
tax received. These committees have just begun
and they must be given time to work through
the complicated processes that they face. The
problems at the Park Board did not occur
overnight and they will not be resolved
overnight. We are in a review and rebuild
position and I believe this Board is committed
to do those things but it will take more than
one meeting and one report to do it.
Once
again thanks to the residents of district 5
for making me your representative and remember
Shop Local and Hire Local.
Thanks
You
may read all of my previous council reports at
www.DannyWeber.com |
