At last week’s CARD budget meeting, finance manager Scott Dowell said they didn’t use the capital projects money to pay off the CalPERS side fund, so I asked him where the money came from, and exactly what happened to the capital projects money:
Mr. Dowell,
At yesterday’s meeting, you said the CalPERS side fund payoff was not made with money from the capital projects fund.
The paper work you sent me earlier this year shows a balance of over $385,000 (note: this was a mistake on my part, it was actually just $345,000!) in the capital projects fund, now that fund shows a negative balance. Can you please show me documentation of where that money went?
Also, you said yesterday the money for the side fund payoff had been “set aside” – from where and when? Could I also see the paper work from CalPERS regarding that side-fund payoff?
If you can’t send me these documents, I can come down to the office at our mutual convenience to look them over.
Thanks for your anticipated cooperation, Juanita Sumner
Dowell responded:
Ms. Sumner:
I have attached the CalPERS side fund payoff letter from July 2012.
In answer to your questions, I would like to refer you to the tab in the budget worksheet called “Fund Balance.”
This tab reflects the projected fund balance activity. Please note the category of Spendable: Assigned reserves.
The Accumulated Capital Reserve is where the $344,500 for capital projects was taken from. As noted in the projected ending balance on the Fund Balance tab, the positive ending balance was $45,132 after utilizing the $344,500 for projects. The reserve is not in the negative.
The CalPERS side fund payment budgeted at $400,000 is noted on the Fund Balance tab as coming from the Long Term Debt Principal Repayment reserve. As noted, the ending projected balance in that reserve was $928,968 after the $400,000 side fund payoff.
Items noted on the Executive Summary tab under the sub title FUND BALANCE ACTIVITY actually flow back to the Fund Balance tab in point of reference.
But, Mr. Dowell, where do the “assigned reserves” come from? And I never found the exact “projects” the projects money was spent on.
It doesn’t matter, I realized later. All that matters is, these people, including Dowell at $96,000/year, and Visconti at $112,000/year, are taking money off the top to pay their own benefits. They took $400,000, just plain took it out of a fund that’s intended to pay off property debts, and spent it on themselves – they pay NOTHING toward their own pensions.
And now they’re whining for more money, so they can actually provide service, imagine that!
I’m getting sick of these kind of leeches.
Mr. Dowell, please get off my back, get your family off my back. I don’t want to carry you.
Chico Taxpayers Association 