September 24, 2013: After a public display of anger, started by Chair Callaway, the 2013-14 Calaveras County budget was not approved.
Spellman, Callaway and Wright voted against it.
The Auditor Rebecca Callen seems to forget that the $3.1 million that the Board was intending to borrow from Teeter, was the money from Teeter that she and her three other friends; Davis, Krska and Sullivan wanted to buy their new toy computer program.
In fact, I recall during budget hearings that Callen continued to request that money for the computer program. At no time did I hear during budgets that the Teeter money was going to be used to balance the budget.
Supervisor Callaway was campaigning for her next election by initially stating she would not support the budget, but Supervisors Wright and Spellman voted no because she voted no.
The entire house of cards that this Board has pretended to hold for the last 8 months, of them all being buddies and getting along, was phony.
While everyone knows that Callaway was only grandstanding to campaign for her next election, thinking that the other 4 would cover for her and pass it anyway, blew up in her face.
25 comments:
You've got to be kidding! Callaway hates the Sheriff and wanted to defund their extra officers. She is also campaigning to tell her people to vote for her again because she is fiscally responsible? How ridiculous! She has been spending and spending for years and years.
That's right. She has voted time and again for higher and higher wages and benefits for her union people. Do you know how much these people make as county employees. She is the main reason that we are broke and in debt.
Callen actually got up and acted as if she had not been the main leader in the group of four asking for millions in Teeter money to buy a computer program. I heard the CAO make a brief statement that the four had withdrawn their request. Now I see that it was because the CAO planned to use those millions to pay the high wages in the $7.1 budget deficit.
You failed to bring out that Supervisor Edson was the one that brought out that he was not aware that the budget was $7.1 million. Transparency? Not in Calaveras!
You mean the deficit was $7.1 million, don't you?
Whoa! I heard that Callaway, the Planning Department employees, WRight and the Calaveras Planning Coalition and myvs.com have offered to make up the budged deficit! Let's see, divided between what 5 that is how much they owe? They killed the economy, they should pay. Oh, Spellman is one of them too. That makes 6.
You are totally right. Callaway did think she could grandstand and that it would pass anyway. Boy did she get fooled. She's getting too old to be Supervisor, and fumbled the rest of the way through the meeting.
Whether it was $3.2 million or $7.1 million, the two badgering supervisors and Edson not being aware of the deficit value shows they did not educate themselves in the budget process. Shame on them. Stop going to fund raisers, having fun at the taxpayers expense. Buckle down, do your homework, be prepared, do the job you were elected to do, represent all your constituents, not just the select few that pat you on the back.
If you think this year was bad, next year will be worse.
Come on you guys, get real! This was Callen's (the Auditor) fault. She is the one who was asking for the teeter money for a new computer program. She is the one who made it unclear, even to Supervisors what their actual deficit was when teeter was moved into the budget. None of us knew the actual deficit was $7.1 million.
Well, I knew they didn't get along. And all the secrets they keep. We need to get rid of Callaway and Spellman this coming year.
What Callaway was voting against was having more cops. And up here where I live we need more cops on duty. there is so much crime and no one does anything about it. I don't think she likes the Sheriff either.
For anyone blaming me, Rebecca Callen, I don't control the Budget. The Board of Supervisors does. All fiscal Elected Department Heads asked the Board to look at the option of replacing the property tax system and we as a group, without any other party, decided it was not the right time to make that move. We have made it clear from day one that we are spending, and have been spending, more than we take in. It doesn't matter if that is on Public Safety or the Library, the fundamental issue is that our spending is unsustainable. If you that are posting some of this nonsense cannot see the issue at hand, then you should really start attending the meetings, reading the budget, and getting involved beyond posting opinion laden, not accurate information that further stirs up fallacies instead of helping our Supervisors and our County find a way out of the budget woes that are plaguing us. I also believe that if you are going to post, you should use your name and stand by your words instead of hiding behind For anyone blaming me, Rebecca Callen, I don't control the Budget. The Board of Supervisors does. All fiscal Elected Department Heads asked the Board to look at the option of replacing the property tax system and we as a group, without any other party, decided it was not the right time to make that move. We have made it clear from day one that we are spending, and have been spending, more than we take in. It doesn't matter if that is on Public Safety or the Library, the fundamental issue is that our spending is unsustainable. If you that are posting some of this nonsense cannot see the issue at hand, then you should really start attending the meetings, reading the budget, and getting involved beyond posting opinion laden, not accurate information that further stirs up fallacies instead or helping our Supervisors and our County find a way out of the budget woes that are plaguing us.
I also believe that you should use your name instead of hiding behind anonymity.
But Ms Callen, you as Auditor must have known when you attempted to get the Teeter money for your computer system that the county was broke. Why didn't you say so then. I also heard you make that presentation as if there is no end to the money available.
To the Auditor: Because we know politicians would come after us. That's why we post anonymously. This is Calaveras County, you know!!!
The Auditor is on film bragging about all the money in the Teeter fund and how they should use it for their computer program. She wasn't alone, though as i recall. Wasn't the Assessor and the County Clerk and what is it, the Tax Collector one group, who met for months, they said and decided they should buy that program with the UNUSED Teeter millions?
Let's face it. We have Supervisors (5 of them) who don't really have a clue what is going on. Instead of them running the county offices, the county offices run them!
I'm writing my list, checking it twice, gonna vote against all five next time cause I am p*****!
Well, I would say that the Auditor's office is always open to the pubic, as is the information presented to the Board and Public with regards to budget. If you have any concerns as to what was or was not presented, please contact me directly and I can share that information with you. I don't have issues with those that express opinions (we all have them), just make sure that they are based on facts. You can also visit the County website for the budget hearings, budget memos, as well as our financial reports. If there is information that would be beneficial to help you understand the budget more comprehensively, I am more than happy to encompass that as well. My email is available on the County web.
To the Auditor: we all appreciate your comments, but even Cliff Edson admitted he did not know what the true deficit was. Like a moron, he voted for it anyway, but he just wants to be liked by county employees.
Transparency and honesty are missing somewhere at our government center. Wouldn't you agree?
I personally think its better public like this than quietly behind the scenes trying to convince one person. Why did you try to get the Teeter funds in the first place? It seems that's where you got yourself in trouble.
Actually, maybe we should all thank Callaway. Because she reared up and brought the fight in public, we found out more than we would have if they had just passed it. They are always covering things up. Look at the Grand Jury report. That was so fake. And all 5 voted to pass it, and not air their dirty laundry. So thank you Ms. Callaway.
I would say that transparency is available. These are public funds and to that degree, we have no choice but to be transparent. The information is there, and I do try to make sure that all of the questions I am presented with (and even questions I am not presented with) get answered with accurate information. I would say that the budget process is complicated and cumbersome. However, even with that it is basic in nature: Expenses should not exceed Revenues. Yes, you may have to spend one time monies to replace assets which used to be the basis of Teeter, but you don't continue to bite off long term liabilities with no long term funding source. Again, I urge you to read the memos that the Board and the Public had access to: every one of them stated the gap in funding. There is absolutely no way anyone could have missed that point; ao long as they read the memo, attended the meetings, or looked at the budget.
There is no cover up. All you have to do is read. Two rather huge books were availabe to read in the CAO's office prior to budget hearings.
Here's a novel idea, send a forensic technician, fingerprint the books to see how many citizens (non-employees) touched the books.
Budget information was on the county website.
Did the board members read all and comprehend all the infomation? Ask them.
Has everyone calmed down now. You watch, they will vote again, all pass it like they really want to do and we get screwed again. it was all a show to pretend they care about fiscal responsiblility, which none of them do.
They did vote again, Callaway changed her vote, the same day, just later in the hearing.
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