Funding Both Sides of the War on ......the Metro District.

I was asked at last night's council meeting a recurring question, "How much is the City spending on the Dissolution Petition matter?"  A similar story was detailed in The Connection six months ago.  We were assured by appointee Shul not to worry, records were being carefully kept.  And yet, hard numbers remain illusive.

Let me take a SWAG at it.  It looks to me like total tax dollars spent by both sides will be about a million dollars through the end of this year, given current trends in feuding and arrogance.  Costs appear to be divided about 2/3rds Metro, 1/3 city.  I'd call it a combined $650k for 2010 and 2011 at the Metro District.  I'd call it $300k this year and last at the City.  That's $950k to fund both sides.  A little frosting on the cake, and you're at a million.  Maybe that's just walking around money for some folks.

Last night the City paid bills from May.  $5,000 of your tax dollars went for specialized legal advice on the TABOR violation matter and The Buffalo Affair.  Billing tops out at just under $400 per hour.  I gues it's good work if you can get it.

We paid an additional $9,000 to another law firm for dissolution this month.  This amount is not atypical for a recent monthly billing cycle.  While the content may be privileged, you should be able to ask for a Total to Date figure for "Matter 10.L" from the legal firm.

We paid a media consultant $9,500 in April and $13,250 in May.  Total is $22,750.  Most of this expenditure paints the City is a rosy light, and the Metro District in an unflattering light.  If you've been to your mailbox lately, you know what I mean.  (Those bills have yet to be approved by the committee.  They should be considered in the next 48 hours.)

We paid $2,350 for postage to mail out the content created by above.

The Utility Director was paid $13,300.  Much of his billable hours are spent on dissolution related items.  I'd guess half, though in fairness he does perform other work too.  The invoices are easy to understand.  While some content my be privileged, it's easy to see how much money is going to what tasks.

$1500 was paid to a regional Chamber of Commerce.  I can't say that's dissolution stuff.  But, I wanted to mention I wrote on the check that their correspondence should go to Mayor Huff from now on, and no longer to appointee Shul.  (The Mayor previously refused to sign a check to this organization until this change was made.  I was asked to sign the check, but was not made aware of this difference of opinion.  I don't understand it, but you did elect him to be your Mayor.  We should support your choice.)

Does our financial employee spend a lot of time on dissolution?  Some.  I don't know if it's 1/4 of his time some days, or only 1/10th.  He did pull together some of the financial illustrations being bandied about.  He is salaried, so his hours are not shown.  I'd say $2500 is fair on the bottom end.  I don't really know.  I do know we have a shiny new accounting package in place, and as of July 1st we'll be doing financials internally.  Perhaps one of the first tasks could be to actually generate a report on the dollars and cents hard cost of this adventure/misadventure.

If I had to make an educated guess, I'd go with +/- $35,000 this billing cycle.  That's not a typical monthly figure.  There was enhanced excitation ahead of the June 20 Court date, plus The Buffalo Affair, which called for our attorneys to work on Sunday to make sure the District didn't get water to those buffalo.  For gosh sakes, include the area and water the herd!

I didn't use exact amounts, or names, in the above but these are very illustrative of the tax dollars flying out the doors.  It's sufficient information to clearly make the point that this episode needs to stop, and it needs to stop right now.  Cooler heads can prevail.  End it, have a cooling off period of six months, and then try again to see what measures can be pursued to save tax dollars and run things more smoothly.