Many of you will remember that in May of 2017 the Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway presented the findings of their audit of the City of Harrisonville, presenting the city with a “Poor” rating. This audit was a result of more than 600 citizens signing the petition required to initiate an audit by the state. Virgil Butler, who was the petitioner named on the audit petition, informed me they had over 800 signatures once all petitions were collected.
When I was campaigning for my election as Mayor the state audit is one of the things I said I was going to ask for if elected. Just like the 800 plus people who signed that petition I had questions about the city’s finances and procedures that I wanted answers to. I am an accountant by trade and understand the value that can come from an audit and as Mayor I needed to know what all was broke before I could begin to fix it.
Nearly 2 years after the efforts began to obtain this audit we were presented with their results and they were not good. Auditor Galloway described Harrisonville as a city that “over extended itself and over committed on a number of taxing district projects”. She went on to attribute this to a lack of planning on the part of city leaders by laying taxing districts on top of each other. In the case of the Town Center TIF (where Sutherlands is located) city officials had recklessly secured the debt for this project with city funds and had failed to include any claw-back provisions if the project failed to perform as projected. This project has failed to perform as predicted and has left the taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars to cover the bonds issued. The auditor’s also noted that city leaders had illegally used Enterprise funds (like electric fund) to cover a loan to the 291 partners in progress TDD to cover the cost of improvements to the 291 area. Enterprise funds are restricted to use only by that utility, so electric funds can only be used for improvements and cost associated with the electric department. City controls, like purchasing policy and bid process was another area were the auditors found issues. The city had not been acquiring bids properly for certain purchases and contracts and had numerous areas of risk in the purchasing policy. There was obviously much more that was found in this audit and you can find a copy of the full auditor’s report on the city’s website.
When I met with the auditors during this process for updates and to answer questions I remember making the comment to them that “it sounds like I am inheriting a huge mess”. Their response was “unfortunately, yes we believe you are”. They were very clear then and when they presented these findings to the BoA that almost all of these finding were a result of the actions of prior administrations and not the current elected officials. The only finding that was partially related to the current administration was our use of closed session to discuss certain business. With the help of our then new city attorney we have since only used closed sessions as prescribed by the sunshine law. I accept some of the responsibility for that finding and addressed it by having the city attorney review all closed session minutes from the date I was elected to that time and after approval by the BoA we released the minutes from those meetings that should have been public. The state auditor told me that was not necessary, but commended us for going above and beyond.
Now 19 months later the state auditors have presented the results of their follow up visit as was required as a result of the poor rating and things look much better. Auditor Galloway commended the city on the work we have done to address these findings and said we are “more effectively managing taxpayer dollars for the future”. They reported that of the 17 findings we have implemented 11 solutions, partially implemented 5 solutions and only had 1 finding that had not had a solution implemented. That one finding dealt with the city’s handling of delinquent accounts. In December of 2018 the BoA passed a resolution to write-off old debt as required and is currently working on a formal policy to be implemented in 2019 to be sure these debts are properly accounted for. The funds that were used to pay towards the 291 TDD loan from Enterprise funds have been repaid to those respective funds and no further use has been made of those funds except for what they were intended. They noted how we have not made use of any further tax incentives for projects and have advised us not to do so for at least 5 years.
Since the audit was presented in 2017 former presiding county commissioner Jeff Cox and I were successful in dissolving one of these failing TDDs mentioned in the audit, the Hospital Interchange TDD (which we both served as officers). This was a TDD that was implemented in 2013 and had never produced enough tax revenue to cover the yearly expenses, much less the start up cost that were nearly $100,000. According to Auditor Galloway the district had collected thousands of tax payer dollars with nothing to show for it. The citizens of both Harrisonville and Cass County were left paying the bills for this TDD. Auditor Galloway also noted that this was another example of why safeguards are needed to insure these special taxing districts are established with better protections for taxpayers. I attended the meeting when this district and the city’s involvement was approved by the prior administration and I objected to it as there were no safeguards established. I felt fortunate that I was able to work with Jeff Cox to undo this mistake.
The full audit follow-up report is also available on the city’s website or you can contact city hall to obtain a copy. I would encourage you all to take a look and see all that has been done to address these issues. I said the night of the audit presentation that we had focused on things we knew needed addressing like improving our infrastructure and replacing failing city equipment until we had the results of the audit. Since then, we have put a lot of hours and work into correcting these deficiencies. I said “we can’t fix things until we know what is broke” and that is what we have done since May 2017.
I spent 3 years before being elected attending BoA meetings regularly and educating myself on what was going on and knew this audit was necessary and it proved to be. Harrisonville is my hometown and has been for over 40 years. I truly care about this city and the citizens that live here and they deserve to know that their tax dollars are being spent properly and effectively. I believe this audit and the follow-up report show that your money and the city finances are being managed much more responsibly.
As your mayor I have applied my experience and education as an accountant to ensure you are getting the most for your money and that all the rules are being followed properly. I commend our city staff that has helped me to bring these changes that were needed and the BoA members who have been supportive of implementing these changes. We must all work together to make our city a better place and to ensure that the best days of Harrisonville are ahead.
Thank you for your time and feel free to contact me with questions. Brian Hasek, Mayor of Harrisoville
