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Treasurer questions council

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
By KEVIN CRAFTON, Staff Writer

Cloverdale's supposed budget crunch was called into question during the town council meeting Tuesday evening.

Clerk-Treasurer Patti Truax asked the board where they were getting their numbers from only weeks following her statement the town needed to buckle down on spending.

"We aren't Avon or Danville and our funds have been allocated by the state," Truax said to attorney Alan Yackey. "We're budgeted for four police officers and now the board is talking about cutting them down to two. I just don't understand this."

Yackey and board member Terry Puffer said the budget didn't provide for gas prices going up 100 percent, and until allocated funds are in the possession of the town, they can't be spent. The planning for the 2009 budget is slated for August.

The board passed a motion to allow two new funds to be created for unsafe buildings and abandoned vehicles. These funds are in place to pay for disposal and auctioning of cars as well as for the teardown of unsafe buildings.

The planning board said they should be done with all the new ordinances by December. Yackey has allowed half his salary for the bi-monthly meetings to be deferred to help the plan commission work within their budget.

Lastly, the initial 10 reserve officers have only two more training sessions before they will be ready. The second phase of training will follow, adding the five extra reserve officers at a later date.

loverdale Town Council will meet again on July 8 at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.

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  • Nice to see you picked up on that...

    Town finds itself in financial crunch

    Wednesday, May 28, 2008

    By KEVIN CRAFTON, Staff Writer

    CLOVERDALE -- Town Clerk Treasurer Patti Truax pleaded with the council Tuesday evening to cut back on unnecessary expenses. The general fund for the town is down to $25,000. This is the fund that is used to pay part of the employees their wages every week.

    -- Posted by South of 40 on Tue, Jun 17, 2008, at 11:02 PM

  • South of 40

    A misleading May headline does not necessarily reflect the facts or the incident. In May the Clerk did ask, not plead, with the board to stop, not cut back, all unnecessary expenses due to not receiving the draw. At no time in May did she state layoffs or employee benefits would need to be made. How Mr. Crafton went from financial crunch to supposed BUDGET crunch is quite a leap. It is such a leap, the Clerk did ask the board basically how they are coming up with the numbers and scenarios they are spewing out. A question I too would like to know the answer too as none was given.

    A big hint to the "financial" crunch that Mr. Crafton apparently missed is the emergency transfer of $5000 into the planning board account. This is a big hint because Mr. Crafton does report "Yackey has allowed half his salary for the bi-monthly meetings to be deferred to help the plan commission work within their budget." If you are having to transfer funds into the account, its because you have spent the funds there. It's a little to late to stay within the budget when you are having to transfer money into the budgeted account. The other big hint is just how much is the town spending on attorney fees that he will defer half to help out. Just how much money are we talking about? I counted at least 5 ching-chings in the June meeting as Yackey created work for himself and the board numbingly went along. I especially liked it when the board was trying to ensure the minutes of the meeting were correct and Mr. Caulkins stated "we just approved Mr. Yackey to do whatever it was he wanted" as a means of clarification. So much for knowing what's going on Mr. Caulkins. With attentiveness such as this, maybe Mr. Caulkins can get a job as a reporter for the banner.

    -- Posted by J Davis on Wed, Jun 18, 2008, at 11:16 PM
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