Lawmakers at every level of government currently have a unique opportunity to end the confusion and distortion surrounding the ways governments calculate their finances and report them on their financial statements, as the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) considers changes to its reporting recommendations.
Category Archives: Commentary
Apple Valley money saving
I’ve been critical of the Town of Apple Valley’s plan regarding the takeover of the water company, in part because I thought they would never be able to run it as efficiently as Liberty Utilities. Their previously-stated plan to fire the upper management and replace them with more expensive (and less qualified) government employees seemed just part of the insanity.
Continue readingAV Pal and the Mud Run (Lee)
These water well costs for Horsemen’s Center, and the Mud Run that followed, really got me thinking. As Al Rice knows, there is an issue that has stuck in my craw for some time. After hearing complaints from others, I long ago started to look at the non-profit situation in the High Desert. These recent issues above fall right into this category.
Letter: Good news, bad news (Schepis)
The good news is Doug Robertson reduced Apple Valley employee compensation by eliminating high level jobs in the amount of $1,139,151 (annually).
Continue readingLetter: I can’t believe this is happening (Schepis)
Have they lost their minds? Let me see if I have this right. According to an earlier Daily Press Article, Angela Valles quotes Apple Valley Town Manager Doug Robertson as saying Apple Valley’s financial reserve in 2012 was $9,200,506 and today it’s $501,000.
Crucial for Apple Valley? Fiscal accountability!
Town Manager Doug Robertson admits his experience
in Apple Valley is limited to seven months in office, and it is apparent from his Valley Voices opinion piece (Water system control crucial for Apple Valley,
Doug Robertson, July 29, 2018) that his knowledge about the eminent domain case is nothing more than a retread of prior false statements fed to the population of Apple Valley by Town Hall and its attorneys. Mr. Robertson has no facts to support his position. Given the fiscal irresponsibility of the Town over the last five years (deficit spending, draining reserves to zero, and now having to obtain credit to survive), the only crucial
element of the desired water takeover is that Town Hall gets its hands on the water company revenues to avoid insolvency!
DA should take closer look at town’s credit card activities (Valles)
Last week I said it was time for new San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson to investigate the Apple Valley Town Council and examine their credit card purchases and travel expenses. This is the first in a series of columns examining what I believe are criminal and/or unethical acts by members of the council.
‘Block of Five’ bankruptcy (Valles)
It is official: The Apple Valley Block of Five
Town Council not only accrued a $2.5 million budget shortfall, but it has also burned through our entire emergency reserve fund which was confirmed in an email exchange with Doug Robertson, our newly hired town manager tasked with cleaning up the Council’s mess.
‘The Purge’ (Valles)
A Hollywood movie franchise called The Purge
takes place in a futuristic dystopian America. Each year during a 12-hour annual purge, all crime is legal, including murder.
But this horror movies isn’t as scary as real life here in San Bernardino County and our Town of Apple Valley where it seems we operate under a 24/7/365 purge of sorts thanks to our do-nothing county sheriff, county supervisor, and Town Council.
How much is too much? (Valles)
Updated numbers show that seven town employees were paid more than $200,000 in salaries and benefits in 2017. This includes the town manager and his three assistants.