Category Archives: Transparency

“Parameters on the types of industry” –VDT Editorial

And what about all that land?

In addition to a news story about Brad Lofton moving on up to Myrtle Beach, the Valdosta Daily Times also had an editorial yesterday (14 March), Lofton’s leaving a void in which they make some good points, including:

While the search is on for a new director, now is the time for the city, county and industrial authority board to come together to make some decisions about the organization and what the community leadership needs and wants it to be.
Here are a few modest suggestions along those lines, including considerations such as water.

More from the VDT: Continue reading →

History changes the closer you get to Valdosta?

Some people have expressed surprise to learn that Brad Lofton was fired from his previous job in Effingham County. The VLCIA’s own website may be part of the reason why they’re surprised.

According to “In the News” on the the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) web site:

“Lofton is currently the president and CEO of the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority and the executive director of the Effingham County Chamber of Commerce. Lofton brings a wide range of experience to the position including time served as the executive director of the Lee County Chamber of Commerce and the Lee County Development Authority.”
You have to search or scroll way down in that page to find that passage, and there’s no date on it.

However, it is almost a word-for-word copy of a paragraph by Kelli Hernandez that appeared in the Moultrie Observer 16 August 2006:

“Lofton’s most recent position was president and CEO of the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority and the executive director of the Effingham County Chamber of Commerce. Lofton brings a wide range of experience to the position including time served as the executive director of the Lee County Chamber of Commerce and the Lee County Development Authority.”
See the difference? “Lofton’s most recent position was” in the Moultrie article is “Lofton is currently the” on the VLCIA’s own web site. So which was it? Continue reading →

Fiduciary responsibility of LCC to oversee VLCIA? –John S. Quarterman

Speaking to the Lowndes County Commission on 8 March 2011, I read from VLCIA “inter-governmental funding agreement” with Lowndes County, noting that VLCIA’s own audited annual financial report seems to be out of date, since it still says VLCIA asks the Lowndes County Commission for its funds. And I wondered about this part in Note F:
The bonds are secured by an “inter-governmental” funding agreement between the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority and Lowndes County, Georgia.
I repeated what I wrote before:
If the Lowndes County government is co-guarantor of VLCIA’s bonds, how can the Lowndes County Commission say it has no responsibility or control over what VLCIA does? I am not a CPA, but the term “fiduciary responsibility” comes to mind.

I quoted myself from VLCIA Bonds: $15M becomes $23.5M?

If I’m reading that right (I am not a CPA), VLCIA took out about $15M in bonds for which they will pay back a total of about $23.5M. Is that really $8.5M in debt service, or about 56% of the original principal?
I pointed out that VLCIA seems to have about $8.3 million in cash Continue reading →

ESPLOST election, now through 15 March 2011

Update 7 Mar 2011: election date fixed in this post title and text.
Here’s how to announce public finances:
To be published on February 11, 18, and 25, 2010 and March 4 and 11, 2010.
That’s five times the Lowndes County Board of Elections is publishing the details of the ESPLOST one percent sales and use tax for educational purposes. This is significant money: not more than $165 million dollars over five years, $94,875,000 for Lowndes County schools, and $70,125,000 for Valdosta schools. There are only two main ways of raising money for public schools: sales taxes, or property taxes. The local school boards use both. This is the sales tax part.

Well, there is a third way. Continue reading →

LAKE as a news medium

We are the media, and you can be, too!

According to the OPEN Government Act of 2007:

[T]he term ‘a representative of the news media’ means any person or entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. In this clause, the term ‘news’ means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news-media entities are television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large and publishers of periodicals (but only if such entities qualify as disseminators of ‘news’) who make their products available for purchase by or subscription by or free distribution to the general public. These examples are not all-inclusive. Moreover, as methods of news delivery evolve (for example, the adoption of the electronic dissemination of newspapers through telecommunications services), such alternative media shall be considered to be news-media entities.
It’s pretty obvious LAKE qualifies as a news medium with its blog, On the LAKE Front, as well as its web pages and its facebook page.

Here is the bill’s full text. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy and 17 others, ranging from Sen. Barack Obama to Sen. Johnny Isakson. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush 31 December 2007.

Of course that’s really just a detail, having to do with the Wikileaks comparison.

Most of what LAKE does has more to do with Georgia law, about open records requests and this passage, O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1-c.:

“Visual, sound, and visual and sound recording during open meetings shall be permitted.”

None of that requires a news medium. Any citizen can file open records requests or record public meetings. Remember, you are the media!

-jsq for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

“the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state.” –Julian Assange

Some people compare LAKE to Wikileaks, so let’s go there. Julian Assange, like Wendell Berry, links the civil rights movement and the environmental movement. He then says:
“For the Internet generation this is our challenge and this is our time. We support a cause that is no more radical a proposition than that the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state. The state has asserted its authority by surveilling, monitoring and regimenting all of us, all the while hiding behind cloaks of security and opaqueness. Surely it was only a matter of time before citizens pushed back and we asserted our rights.”

LAKE’s motto is:

Citizen dialog for transparent process
That makes Assange’s proposition
“the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state”
sound very familiar to us.

Locally it’s more a matter of elected and appointed bodies ignoring their chartered responsibilities to the public good and the general welfare. Well, many people are also tired of the permit inspection brigade, but that’s another story.

Assange also adds: Continue reading →

VLCIA Bonds: $15M becomes $23.5M?

How much are those bonds VLCIA has committed we the taxpayers to?

According to VLCIA’s FYE 2011 Annual Financial Report it looks like the bonds started out as about $15,000,000, and are

If I’m reading that right (I am not a CPA), VLCIA took out about $15M in bonds for which they will pay back a total of about $23.5M. Is that really $8.5M in debt service, or about 56% of the original principal? Is that a good deal VLCIA has made with we the taxpayers’ money?

Meanwhile, VLCIA has

That’s an interesting number to contemplate while other arms of local government are scraping to pay salaries and provide services. One of those other arms of local government is the Lowndes County Commission, which appears to be co-guarantor for those bonds.

-jsq

VLCIA “inter-governmental funding agreement” with Lowndes County

If Lowndes County funds VLCIA and helps secure its bonds, how can the Lowndes County Commission have no control over VLCIA?

In Note A: Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of VLCIA’s FYE 2011 Annual Financial Report:

Reporting Entity

The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority is a political subdivision created by the State of Georgia Legislature to stimulate growth in the Valdosta-Lowndes County area. The Authority’s revenues are derived primarily from contributions by local governnments and by the sale of land in the industrial development parks owned by the Authority.

Well, the VLCIA’s charter is available on the web and it doesn’t just say “growth”; it also says “the public good” and “the general welfare” of the community.

The financial report continues:

The members of the Industrial Authority are appointed by both the City Council of the City of Valdosta and the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners. Primary operating funding, as well as guarantees for certain bonds, comes from the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners and accordingly, the Authority is considered to be economically dependent on Lowndes County.
The first sentence is correct. If the second sentence is correct, how can the Lowndes County Commission say it has no control over or responsibility for the Industrial Authority?

Further, in Note F: Long Term Debt:

The bonds are secured by an “inter-governmental” funding agreement between the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority and Lowndes County, Georgia.
If the Lowndes County government is co-guarantor of VLCIA’s bonds, how can the Lowndes County Commission say it has no responsibility or control over what VLCIA does? I am not a CPA, but the term “fiduciary responsibility” comes to mind. These bonds are, after all, being paid for by our tax dollars, and the Board of Commissioners are our elected representatives for the county.

How big are those bonds, anyway? See the next post.

-jsq

VLCIA Annual Financial Report FYE 30 June 2011

Where does that $3 million a year in VLCIA tax revenue go?

In the Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2011, for the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), there are some interesting assertions, and some really interesting dollar figures. These documents were obtained by open records request February 2011 and given to LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

See the following posts about the “inter-governmental agreement” between VLCIA and Lowndes County and about the size of the bonds and debt servicing VLCIA has committed to. And of course read the report for yourself and see what you think.

-jsq

VLCIA operating budget

Apparently VLCIA collects $3 million in tax revenues annually and pays about $368,000 in staff salaries and benefits, plus $125,000 in legal and accounting costs, as well as other items in general operations. This is according to VLCIA’s Operating Budget (FYE 30 June 2011), obtained by open records request in February 2011, and given to LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange. Look for yourself; here it is in PDF and two different single-page forms.

-jsq