Orchestrated Attacks?

                                            by Ron West

            If you do not want people to examine something, often the best tactic is to point their attention in a different direction or to simply try to discredit anyone who questions what you do not want questioned.  The current leadership of North Richland Hills seems to have adopted both methods in an attempt to divert your attention from serious budget questions that have been raised.  Consider the following:

                It has been reported that Mayor Trevino told City Manager Cunningham to:  "ignore renegade factions" in reference to questions about the two non-departments in the city budget.  Please remember that this is the same Mayor who was also paraphrased by the Star Telegram as saying "ignore the little people".  Strategy:  discredit the questioners without answering the questions

                On another front, a very verbose spokesman for the incumbents in the recent election continues to spew his vitriol by continued attacks on anything that dares to question the competence of his revered council.   His most recent "column" tries to paint the questions about the non-departments as "irrational".  He implies that the questioner (me) is incompetent to understand the city's accounting and then tries to defend the response from Mr. Cunningham as answering the questions.  Strategy:  Discredit the opposition.

                This pattern follows the strategy of the recent campaign, i.e., redirect your attention to non-issues and discredit the challengers and opposition by massive misinformation designed to discredit them.  This follows comments from the Mayor "I wish we could do something about them" referring to this and other websites that dare to question the authority and actions of the council.  One must assume that we will be faced with continuing attack efforts to silence both questions and opposition.  I have great faith that the citizens of NRH will be able to read and understand what is going on.  Articles, both theirs and those of the opposition should be read analytically with careful checking of facts.  Opinions need to be segregated from factual information.

                Contrary to the campaign of misinformation, NRHOnline will continue to offer to correct or retract any information published

that is proven to be in error or false based on provable facts.  We do not offer to retract or change information solely on the basis that

it might offend or question our elected officials or city employees.

                Now to examine my recent call for full disclosure relating to the budget for non-departments in NRH, the following are facts:

                Fact #1 -  Over $15 Million has been budgeted to two non-departments for the current and prior two years.

                Fact #2 -  The current budget approved by the council contains $4,843,134 budgeted for two non-departments.

                Fact #3 -  The $4,843,134 represents over 20% of the projected property tax revenue to the city for the current year. 

                Fact #4 -  Transfers from these accounts to "Building Services" have exceeded the approved budget by $175,000 apparently

without either Council resolution to modify the budget or other authority to make such transfers.  

                Fact #5 -  The report on these accounts for the current year and the prior two years from Mr. Cunningham to the council does not account for the total budgeted amounts.

                Fact #6 -  The Cunningham report indicates that expenditures this year have already exceeded the "sundries" portion of the general fund non-department by $172,725 without any resolution from the council authorizing such overage.  

                Fact #7 -  There remains $503,637 that is unaccounted for in the Cunningham report relating to the general fund non-department budget.

                Fact #8 -  There remains $672,553 that is unaccounted for in the Cunningham report relating to the utility non-departmental budget.

                Fact #9 -  There is a write off of $364,000 identified as "ambulance bad debt" that is based on only two ambulances in service for the city and there have been large write offs for the past two years also.

                Fact #10 -A request from a council person for the full computerized accounting for these two budgeted non-departments has basically been ignored by the City Manager.

                This information is not an "opinion" but based on actual city records that are verifiable.   

             These facts and questions are not an attack on anyone, rather, what I believe any interested council person, citizen and taxpayer should have an interest in - along with a right to better answers.  The request for full disclosure for this and the prior two years should be easy to accommodate to answer all questions and put the discussion on these two departments to rest - unless there are irregularities.  If all is as it should be, in the future, the council will have an opportunity to ask questions to at least make some of us feel better about the oversight.

            Orchestrated vitriolic attacks on my credibility and my website do not serve as an answer.  I think that a full accounting for these non-departmental budgets is both called for and in order at this time.  This isn't a new or radical idea, in fact, consider the following quote:

Jefferson, Thomas letter to Shelton Gilliam
June 19, 1808
Topic: Budget

"The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys."