Wednesday’s Argus Headline

Wednesday’s headline .. “Commissioners get answers, move drain assessments forward”

From Wednesday, November 23:

“But the centerpiece of his report was the revelation that of the $748,832 being assessed in 2005, just $132,782 is for drain projects undertaken in previous years.”

Well it’s nice to see that everyone else has finally figured out what Tina Fett told me on Friday, November 18, which was when I first asked her to comment on the outdated assessments.

This is a quote from her response:

“it is just another example of misleading statements.

They only assessed $750,000… of which many are long term drains that have been in place for several years… so how are those outdated? How can they completely mislead with their statements, including Margaret McAvoy?

Why isn’t someone asking how they financed their new computer program?”

And

“$750,000 for an assessment year is not unusual. There were many years when over a million dollars per year were assessed.”

So I’d like to take the opportunity to revisit Tony Hornus’ irresponsible editorial of Sunday, November 20:

“Hundreds of thousands of dollars are facilitated through the drain office each year pertaining to hundreds of tax roll assessments and drainage districts throughout Shiawassee County.”

And

“And since those private entities must be paid for services rendered,
the accounting chores rest solely on the shoulders of the drain office staff – and primarily the deputy drain commissioner.”

Ok, so Tina, the former Deputy Drain Commissioner, worked in the drain office for 14 years. If I estimate low, that’s at least $7 million worth of ‘accounting chores’, and of that, “just $132,782 is for drain projects undertaken in previous years. Further, $69,774 of the remaining assessments are for work undertaken since 2001, with projects more than five years old accounting for $63,008 of the total 2005 assessment.”

Using my ridiculously low figure of $7 million total assessed during her tenure, that’s 1.9% that is overdue. And some of that is affected by the incorrect maps, and some could be included in long term assessments.

Sounds to me like Tina and Bernie were doing a pretty good job.

Tony Hornus owes them an apology.

I didn’t mention Tina’s comments in my earlier entries because I wanted to be sure of the numbers before I published it. Seems like the Metro Editor of the local paper could’ve exercised the same restraint.

And while I’m here, shame on the two Democratic County Commissioners who didn’t immediately call Tina or Bernie and ask for an explanation. If I was on the Board, that’s the first thing I would’ve done.

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