TMC: Thirty Miles of Corruption

COMINGLING CAN BE USED FOR INVESTMENT PURPOSES, BUT NOT FOR ACCOUNTING PURPOSES, TO BE USED OTHERWISE WOULD BE CONCEALMENT.

THIS WAS AN OPEN LETTER SENT TO COUNCIL WOMAN NANCY HART, FROM SELF APPOINTED CITIZEN AUDITOR VIVIAN MORENO, AFTER THIS WEEKS FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING:

Dearest  Council Woman Nancy Hart,

What a pleasure it was to attend your finance committee meeting. As I was walking out I heard you walking behind me saying something like : I am spending 100s of hours on this and I should be doing something else, And I should leave this up to the experts. ( am I correct you were speaking or referring to me) If you would like a sit down session to discuss this matter I will be happy to meet with you.  Now I need to respond.

Response: The fiscal responsibility of our city is very important to me , my family, my friends, my neighbors, the elderly and the disabled. I have a right to ask, to question, to view, every document that I have questions about.  This is called the public records Act. It was put in place just for this purpose.

Some people fish, knit, sew, I review public documents. What I choose to do with my time is my business not yours.

If the City of Riverside sets the pattern for review of Financial statements monthly and the previous year 2010 they are all accounted for and NO commingling of funds. What is a citizen to do when  in 2011 they are all over the place with statements and general -enterprise fund documents  MISSING. If they were all in their right place I wouldn’t have to bother anybody. If there is only one person, (as stated by Paul Sundeen, referring to me), in the entire city of Riverside looking at financial statements whats the big deal. All I’m saying if you have the process in place it should easily be accessible.   It was interesting to me that you yourself did not know where the financial statements were located on your website.

Your comment about “leaving it up to the experts” . Your experts  have a restaurant in City Hall that was over 3 mil and it doesn’t bring in a dollar to the city.  You have a new  library in Orange Crest  that has a closed café. You have a Fox Theatre that has a million plus  deficit each year in operating costs. You have 149 transferred   properties, “Questionable”. Your experts Commingle funds. Your experts signed an illegal contract with a restaurant (Elephant Thai) post Redevelopment stay. Above all your experts have put us in 1.7 billion dollar debt that we cannot pay and I believe you know it. So why should we listen to your experts!

As a politician you should be happy for us that we do take an interest in city politics and we want a better understanding of how our local government works.  Going thru the documents of the City of Riverside and telling the story is like reading a novel, but I know all the characters.  No worry, I do this on my free time.

By the way we  will be attending the MORR Conference next week, Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform, in San Francisco. We will be speaking on Commingling of Redevelopment funds, transferred properties,  inter fund and inter agency transfers, and signing contracts while a Redevelopment stay is in place .  My goal is to be an expert in Municipal Finance so where ever I choose to live I can have an impact.

Thank-you, Vivian Moreno,  Self Appointed Citizen Auditor

Nancy,

This is easy reading.  While you leave commingling up to your  experts, I have concerns. I know California Code Section 66006 has to do with impact fees, but you get the idea, I’m still learning.

CAL. GOV. CODE § 66006 : California Code – Section 66006

(a)If a local agency requires the payment of a fee specified in subdivision (c) in connection with the approval of a development project, the local agency receiving the fee shall deposit it with the other fees for the improvement in a separate capital facilities account or fund in a manner to avoid any commingling of the fees with other revenues and funds of the local agency, except for temporary investments, and expend those fees solely for the purpose for which the fee was collected. Any interest income earned by moneys in the capital facilities account or fund shall also be deposited in that account or fund and shall be expended only for the purpose for which the fee was originally collected.

(b)(1)For each separate account or fund established pursuant to subdivision (a), the local agency shall, within 180 days after the last day of each fiscalyear, make available to the public the following information for the fiscal year:

(A)A brief description of the type of fee in the account or fund.

(B)The amount of the fee.

(C)The beginning and ending balance of the account or fund.

(D)The amount of the fees collected and the interest earned.

(E)An identification of each public improvement on which fees were expended and the amount of the expenditures on each improvement, including the total percentage of the cost of the public improvement that was funded with fees.

(F)An identification of an approximate date by which the construction of the public improvement will commence if the local agency determines that sufficient funds have been collected to complete financing on an incomplete public improvement, as identified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 66001, and the public improvement remains incomplete.

(G)A description of each interfund transfer or loan made from the account or fund, including the public improvement on which the transferred or loaned fees will be expended, and, in the case of an interfund loan, the date on which the loan will be repaid, and the rate of interest that the account or fund will receive on the loan.

(H)The amount of refunds made pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 66001 and any allocations pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 66001.

(2)The local agency shall review the information made available to the public pursuant to paragraph (1) at the next regularly scheduled public meeting not less than 15 days after this information is made available to the public, as required by this subdivision. Notice of the time and place of the meeting, including the address where this information may be reviewed, shall be mailed, at least 15 days prior to the meeting, to any interested party who files a written request with the local agency for mailed notice of the meeting. Any written request for mailed notices shall be valid for one year from the date on which it is filed unless a renewal request is filed. Renewal requests for mailed notices shall be filed on or before April 1 of each year. The legislative body may establish a reasonable annual charge for sending notices based on the estimated cost of providing the service.

(c)For purposes of this section, “fee” means any fee imposed to provide for an improvement to be constructed to serve a development project, or which is a fee for public improvements within the meaning of subdivision (b) of Section 66000, and that is imposed by the local agency as a condition of approving the development project.

(d)Any person may request an audit of any local agency fee or charge that is subject to Section 66023, including fees or charges of school districts, in accordance with that section.

(e)The Legislature finds and declares that untimely or improper allocation of development fees hinders economic growth and is, therefore, a matter of statewide interest and concern. It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature that this section shall supersede all conflicting local laws and shall apply in charter cities.

(f)At the time the local agency imposes a fee for public improvements on a specific development project, it shall identify the public improvement that the fee will be used to finance.

COUNCIL WOMAN NANCY HART DID RESPOND, IT WAS A PERSONAL EMAIL,  HOPEFULLY SHE WILL POST IT!

KEEP CONNECTED WITH TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE!   TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, AND THAT’S ALL WE’RE GOING TO SAY ABOUT THAT ONE… AGAIN, THANK-YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT!  COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS!