Mesa City Budget = "Non-Issue" ?? Says Who? Mesa Is Deep In Debt

 In some comments in the opening minutes of the Mesa City Council Study Session on Monday, January 22, 2018 City Manager Chris Brady appeared relieved when the Final Budget Audit done in-house became what he called "a Non-Issue" by getting placed as an item on the Consent Agenda where all items are usually approved all at once and in one fell swoop without any questions or comments from either any member of the public or any of the six Councilmembers.

THE TAKE-AWAY:   (Bad accounting is) really undermining our democracy's ability to knowledgeably participate."

The Mesa City Council 'Squad'

Chris Brady -who is the City's Chief Executive - was cued to make some comments by Mayor John Gilesthat the audit was put on the Consent Agenda instead of facing questions or comments from any member of the public or any six Mesa Councilmembers who usually fall into step into unanimous and fast approval of the entire Consent Agenda.

That's what works here in Mesa when so few people in the community of almost 500,000 are actively engaged in participation in their elected government or even bother be interested in what city officials are doing - the hidden cost? Every taxpayer's debt burden is almost $6,000 

There's some excellent research and attention to details in this report published yesterday by AZ Republic reporter Jessica Boehm, updated just this afternoon 25 Jan 2018 at 2:06 pm MT
Blogger's Note: There are numerous posts on this blog going back to last year and before about these accounting methods, unfunded liabilities, and the dangers of increasing Bond Debt that bankrolls the costs of Suburban Sprawl
Phoenix, Mesa earn 'D' grades in financial-health review due to pension debt

"The Valley's two largest cities earned "D" grades in an annual review of government financial health because they don't have enough money to pay their bills.

Truth in Accounting, a national fiscal watchdog non-profit, released its "Financial State of the Cities" report this week, which analyzes the financial audits of the 75 most populous cities in the country. . . "

Mesa's shortfall is $784.6 million, or $5,900 per taxpayer.

Mesa also has a hefty unfunded retiree healthcare liability of $646 million, which adds to its problem, Truth in Accounting CEO Sheila Weinberg said.

"We can't ignore that," Weinberg said. But cities have tried to in the past, she said.

'Phony government accounting'

Apparently it wasn't Mesa City Manager Chris Brady who got put on-the-hook by the reporter:

"Mesa Chief Financial Officer Michael Kennington said the city responsibly manages all of its expenses, including pension and retiree health-care costs.

"While we applaud the Truth in Accounting group’s effort to provide ‘easy-to-understand’ financial information about local governments, we don’t agree with the methodology used or with several of the subjective assumptions made and don’t really understand the purpose of this report," Kennington said in a statement. 

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What voters should know

Weinberg said

it's critical that residents are educated about their city's financial health and understand the consequences of growing debt.

"If they knew the city was running deficits, maybe they would have voted for somebody different," she said. "

(Bad accounting is) really undermining our democracy's ability to knowledgeably participate."

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Link to the source > click here