Government oversight, or control?

 

January 22, 2015



To The Eagle:

As commissioner of Grays River Habitat Enhancement District, I am responsible for how the taxed money is spent. I take that very seriously, since we (the commissioners), never see or handle any of the money, only the county, it is quite difficult to misuse that money. That said, the Washington State Auditor demands a lengthy full report on our finances. A report so lengthy, they give a three hour class just to file this report. I took the class, and at that time was ready to resign as commissioner. With some help we conquered the past due and due reports.

Several years ago, we were audited by the state auditor, which turned out fine. But that audit cost 50 percent of our yearly budget. It was very difficult for us to pay, but we did so nonetheless.

I just received a bill from the state auditor, for the audit of our reports. They charge $83.60 per hour for this, from our district, entirely run by volunteers. We are charged for six hours, which in turn is 20 percent of our annual budget. I wonder, are these people paid that per hour?

The purpose of an auditor is to make sure we, the commissioners, don’t steal the public’s money. In my opinion, the auditor is stealing the public’s money! It is supposed to be an oversight department. But when it is costing more than we could possibly embezzle, with county oversight, then I am very disappointed!

Part of the problem, in my opinion, is the one size fits all approach. As such a small entity, we are held to the same standard of filing, reporting and accounting, as are the bigger entities, such as Port of Longview, for an instance. Such entities have a list of secretaries, fine computer programs and so on. Yet we are burdened by the same requirements.

In short, I feel government ‘oversight’ is costing us more than we could benefit from such.

Sincerely,

Poul Toftemark, Commissioner

Grays River Habitat Enhancement District

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024