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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0533.037 2000-2002 Aloha ahiahi ladies and gentlemen, My name is Charles Flaherty. I speak to you tonight as a retired CPA with substantial AEr~iv~~ prior municipal government audit experience. ~y-•----~~ The question we face tonight is how can our County government -solve the current projected budget-deficit? but more so, I ask you what actions can we all envision tonight that will allow us to forever heal a festering wound which requires more than aband-aid? The short-term solution proposals presented to date can be boiled down to (1) increasing revenues through higher tax rates or (2) decreasing expenditures through budget cuts. There have also been proposals to sell public lands. Ilowever, doing so would forever deprive our government and the public of a valuable long-term resource. Therefore, this is literally sarong -the poorest options. To decrease expenditures, it has-been suggested the bounty cut the number of its employees. I do not believe this is a good idea until we have better understanding of our current problems. If anything, it would be a better idea to -fill =budgeted, but unfilled positions. This would ~-n~a7.e the disturbing amount of over-time being i-ncurred in many departments. Meanwhile, -there would be an increased ability of the primary asset of government, its human resources, to serve the public good, health, safety, and welfare as-required by=law. I-Iowever, despite these additional employees, because the systems within our government are flawed, employees and officials will still not be able to do perform their best -nor to -produce desired results. I am on the-Board of Directors of Citizens For Equitable and Responsible government and Protect Keopuka `Ohara and the steering committee for Keep Kealakekua Mild. Through my involvement with-these community orgaiaizations said County-gov , t, I have reached a personal opinion that the current fitaancial, informational, and procedural systems in the County government have significant weak iesses in flows and internal controls. I believe because of the current internal control environment of our government, there is substantial waste, err©rs, and omissions. These probleans exist regardless of human resources because the systems, not the people, are flawed. To better understand, think of the County government as a car. Right now, the taxpayers' car is getting bad gas mileage and gets stolen on occasion. Our car desperately needs a rebuilt engine and an alarm system to prevent "unauthorized and improper" use. Unfortunately, we don't have enough gas to get to a mechanic. Temporarily raising taxes is the can of gas taxpayers need to get so our car so we can make it to the mechanic. If we have a good mechanic, our car will get many more miles to the gallon for a good while. ~Ie will no longer need as much gas to get frown point A to point In other words, the taxpayers will not need to pay as much to receive services from January 1St to December 31St • ComYn. N®a File No. Re ~ . To: Ref. Date ~i~iY 6 200 Therefore, I hope that the members of the Council will strongly consider athree-part proposed solution: 1) Raise property tax rates, but only for a no-option-for-renewal period of three years to balance the budget, 2) Elite an international accounting faa~ within six months to do a complete audit and systems analysis of the County of I-lawaii, 3) Iiaamediately implement the recoiYiiiaendations resulting from the audit and systems analysis using a different international accounting f rm to coach and train County employees and o#~icials through dais process (we don't want another Enron). The upfront cost to taxpayers ~iad government for this three-part proposal is basically nothing when compared to the real decreased costs and increased efficiency of our County "gmvernmeiat-far into the future. Icy-the end ~f-the-decade, tens-of millions of dollars will have been saved, if only the aaa of the Council and the administration Have the resolve to truly reforan our County "government today. I hope you will consider reform, not only-~f~sur-property tax systeffn, but-of all sys~iris of our County government. A band-aid just won't cut it. iNith real. reform the island of Hawaii will-have become-the `healing-island", f®r the healers-wall "have healed themselves. lsillahalo nui loa .for- your -tiirae and attention. AElalama I'€ano, C~ , rty Charles "Cl~uckee'~F}ahe - -