The Citizens have a right to know! What is the real financial situation?

Unfortunate – and illegal – decisions over the last several years (especially last two years) will cost Tunica County and its citizens thousands & thousands of dollars.  Completely unnecessary litigation will cause the new Board trouble for years.  Competent advice from the appointed officials would have avoided hundreds of thousands of dollars of litigation cost and the violation of various state laws.  While we can’t change the past, we certainly can learn from it.  So, where do we go from here?

The new Board of Supervisors will have to determine what their priorities are.  As part of this, the new Board of Supervisors could dedicate 15%-25% of the gaming revenue to pay the County’s debt and fund the programs that support Tunica County’s largest industry and biggest taxpayer.  The casino industry pays 100% of the gaming taxes – is it too much to ask that a fraction of this be used to support the industry?  Remember, the County gets a percentage of the gaming revenues so investing in the industry through programs that help the gaming industry will help increase gaming revenues – more revenues for the County.  That would be a “win-win” scenario.  Further, dedicating as little as 15% of the gaming revenues to pay the debt service will reduce property taxes for everyone. 

What other uses are there for the remaining 75%-85% of the gaming revenue?  A percentage of the gaming revenue needs to be used for public safety.  A percentage of the gaming revenues are already dedicated to educational purposes (of course, the current Board has not valued this and illegally stopped the payment – and incurred 6 figure legal costs for this illegal action).  A percentage of the gaming revenue needs to be dedicated for recreational programs.  A percentage of the gaming revenues need to be dedicated to housing, to water quality, etc.  When gaming is up, every program will benefit.  When gaming is down, every program will need to tighten its belt – not just a select few.

Just think what could have been done with $300,000 to $500,000 if it had not been spent on unnecessary and “lost” litigation.  While a topic for another day, some preliminary information indicates that Tunica County’s cost for health insurance has gone up several hundred thousand dollars since the current Board voted to change companies.  It would be real interesting to know if this is true, but with no audit, no one can really tell.

We need to demand more accountably so that the new Board will have some understanding of the real issues that it will face.  It is time for the truth about the financial situation to be told – the financial situation created by the current Board!  It is time to end the wasteful, unnecessary and illegal spending.  Approving claims and then holding the checks because there is no money is just not right – probably not legal.  The County Administrator should be required to explain why there is no audit for any of the time that he has been in office – right at TWO years.  If he was auditing Tunica County right now – what would he say?  The County Administrator should be required to provide a monthly cash report by department and fund showing the real financial state of the County.  The County Administrator should be required to provide a projection of where the County will be on January 1^st when the new Board takes over.  The citizens and new Board members deserve to KNOW the truth.