G.S.D. Budget Update. Engineer and Attorney Continue to Pick Our Pockets
Although you probably don't know it, there's another Gateway Services District Board of Supervisors meeting tonight at 5:30. During the meeting, there's no doubt the Supervisors will gloss over the fact that they continue to crank out checks for our engineer and attorney. They are consistently over budget on these items. Not only month after month, year after year.
The reason you don't know about the meeting is because the district, which spent your money on two items specifically purchased to promote meetings, has never used those items. Posts were installed at both entrances to Gateway. One planned use for those posts was to hang banners promoting G.S.D. meetings. Never been used for that purpose.
The district also purchased the online e-mail software program called Constant Contact. The idea was to use resident e-mail addresses to promote meetings and "get our side of the story out" about what the Supervisors were doing. The idea was to counter the Gateway Gazette which was pissing them off at the time. Well, either they don't have a side of the story to tell or they really aren't doing anything worth telling. Or, of course, they need to promote a membership drive at the country club. Then, all district business comes to a screeching halt and the gold-platers get what they need.
Just in case the Supervisors forget to tell you in their next e-mail, let me fill you in on one of the things you may not have had the time to look into. In March alone, your Supervisors, over-spent the engineering budget by 450%. Yep, you read that correctly. With a budget of $1,500 for the month, the Supervisors spent $8,377. Not to be outdone, the attorney budget was over-spent by 350%. With a budget of $2,300 the Supervisors approved $10,558 in spending. Year-to-date, the engineer is over budget by 326% and the attorney over budget by 57%.
Part of the problem is we have poor planning being done by our Operations department allowing these things to happen or allowing "special projects" to pop up year after year. The other part of the problem is the Supervisors simply have no control. A budget doesn't really mean a budget. A budget to them just means a plan they may follow. Be on the lookout for Chairman Bob Nielson's famous statement tonight "How did we get here".
When November rolls around, let's all look for someone who can stick to a budget so this doesn't happen again. Fort Myers FL
