TIS A REASON TO BE JOLLY-

Unfortunately it is not that kind of Jolly with Shire accounts to be analysed! 

The recent letter mentioned in‘ Will Santa Claus come to Town ?’, sent to the Minister for Local Government and the Premier, regarding the potential sorry state of the Shire of York’s finances has garnered a response from none other than ‘Mr. Mendicant’ himself, the Executive Director Sector Relations and Support, Brad Jolly.

You all remember Mr. Jolly, the bumptious bureaucrat, who insulted Dowerin and every other Rural Shire Council by calling it mendicant ( beggars, tramps and vagrants) but who did not mention Local Government Officers being thieves even though there has been quite a few- and it should be his systemic problem to solve. If you do not, then read the WA Corruption and Crime Commission’s ‘Report on a Matter of Governance at the Shire of Dowerin’ in which Mr. Jolly has his ten cents worth.

Who also, as head of the Local Government Standards Panel, seems to have personally trained the Lord Mayor of Perth, Lisa Scaffidi, to do what she appears to do best, allegedly engaging in 45 counts of serious misconduct, and helped dump Commissioner James Best on the Shire of York to place it on ‘Struggle-Street’ for good measure.

As the Regulator and Supporter from Hell, Jolly has had a ‘light-bulb’ auditing moment and deduced that the Shires current fiscal shortfall of $2.8 million relates to rates being paid via instalments and pensioner rates.

Dear Brad- everyone knows that, but it is the rate that this is being collected which is the problem.

Two rate instalment notices (out of four) have already been sent out and what have pensioners got to do with it? Are you trying to insult the elderly in rural areas by suggesting they are also mendicant?

At the current rate of collection there will be a $1.4 million shortfall, with 40% remaining uncollected as of July 1, 2017. That is unless there is dramatic 80% change that has not happened in the past three years!

You mention the Shire’s (costly?) method of recouping rates through debt collection on some overdue accounts as a seemingly potential positive.

Wow! that is really great news. It is something that has worked superbly well in the past with Total Past Years Outstanding Rates,  as of November 26, 2016, being $667,000 or an outstanding debt of  21.5 % accrued ( over at least a three year period) prior to the 2016-17 Financial Year.

Given this methodology and a statistically almost impossible 80% rate recovery for 2016-17 as of July 1, 2017, then the outstanding Rates and Sundry debts could still be $1 million without taking into account any other Shire expenditure that it cannot obtain grant funding for.

So seriously, do you think you actually know what you are talking about? Try using realistic probabilities rather than unsupported, government department style, politicized suppositions!

You claim the Department will be analysing the Shire of York’s financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2016. Apparently your Department is intending in coming to town, but when is the question as a proper analysis is long overdue?

Also, given that the Sundry and Rates debt accrual stands at around $1 million prior to June 30, 2016, why not go back five years further to ascertain the nature and (as you say) ‘materiality’ of any related issues (such as inexcusable financial misconduct and totally unacceptable administration mismanagement) that can be identified.

I am seriously hoping that you understand the meaning of ‘materiality’ in a legal sense-being relevance and significance according to Law and good governance statutes.

If this is the case- then there are arguably some former Shire employees, possibly Councillors and a Commissioner who may finally need to delve into their pockets to seek legal advice and/or face some shire debt collection retribution of their own.

As the Executive Director, Sector Regulation and Support for the Department of Local Government (and Communities) you have given a written commitment to a community of 3,400 citizens to undertake a comprehensive analysis of its Shire’s Financial Statements for the 2015-16 Financial Year.

You have done this at the request of the Minister for Local Government, the Hon. Paul Miles, to act on his behalf.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the York community is fully informed of the result and the nature and materiality of any actions required to be taken on behalf of the ratepayers of York who pay the bills.

As you will see this correspondence has been published on a Social Media Website that has 200,000 hits per annum. That equates to 60,000 hits prior to the State Election on Saturday, March 11, 2017.

David Taylor.

MALFEASANCE 101 (The WACCC does Dowerin.)

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, unless it is the Western Australian Corruption and Crime Commission. It has no jurisdiction over any government elected officials’ minor misconduct, yet it still chose to provide a copy of the ‘Report on a Matter of Governance at the Shire of Dowerin’ to both Houses of the WA Parliament.

The WACCC and the WA Premier do not sing in harmony from anywhere near the same page so the WACCC had no hesitation in reproducing, in the report, an underlying, basically contemptuous view of the Local Government Act 1995, and on the Department of Local Government’s administrative non-capabilities, and at the same time- try to give the Premier the shits.

It had no problem in publishing the fact that the Department of Local Government’s Prince of Probity, Brad Jolly, said that rural shires in particular have deeply embedded weaknesses in structure and proceeded to call a rural Shire Council ‘Mendicant’. The meaning of which is highly insulting –‘beggars, tramps, vagrants, vagabonds and bums’ are all mendicants. Jolly could have been more complementary by saying ‘relying on the finances of others’ but chose to call it as he sees it which is like the pot calling the kettle black.

The 52-page report on Dowerin is York revisited.    

Forrest Gump said that ‘life is just a box of chocolates’ and, although he was not the sharpest tool in the shed, in some cases it is.

The WA Local Government chocolate box is filled with $1.9 billion in annual rates revenue and $282 million in Local Government Grants Commission funding. You can add to that borrowing from the WA Treasury Department at the cheapest interest rates in town with no hard-to-answer questions asked- like what is the loan actually for. (Conversely the ‘Big Four Banks’ consider providing rural loans as like investing in a leper colony.)

Such a vault full of potential play money attract shysters like Dowerin’s, Dacre Alcock, (and way too many others) like bees to a giant money-honey pot left unprotected by some Shire Councillors with a breathtaking level of ignorance of their role and responsibility over the Chief Executive Officer and divorced from any personal financial duty of care to ratepayers.

It is a Willy Wonka non-compliance wonderland ripe for unleashing insidious, undetected corruption by public officers assisted by the fact that Council financial stupidity is considered just a minor misconduct, and that having to learn to be a councillor will never be mandatory as long as your derriere points downwards.

Or if the Labor Party gets in- maybe shortly after the next election, also with the potential for ‘fat-cat’ bureaucrats like Jennifer Matthews and Brad Jolly of the Department of Local Government to enter the vast ranks of the unemployed.

To add a helping hand to fiscal malpractice, the 2015 government amendment to the Corruption, Crime and Misconduct Act, 2003 ensures that neither the WA Corruption and Crime Commission and the Public Sector Commission can investigate nefarious minor misconduct by any Elected Official, including Local Government Councillors and Members of Parliament.

This is not the opinion of humble journalists- but mostly that of the state’s corruption watchdog (aka Chihuahua) the WA Corruption and Crime Commission.

So how was the Dowerin saga allowed to happen? You may well ask!

No! It is not all to do with much maligned council members being breathtakingly ignorant and councils suffering from statutory stupidity as part of the CCC conclusions may infer. Although one councillors comment that he was confident in his local government knowledge because he had never been broke in 50-years does not overload anyone with supreme confidence.

Many councillors apparently still feel that they bear no responsibility for personally being involved in scrutinizing their CEO’s financial records for credit card use compliance. They may feel that, as they are not allowed to interfere with the day-to-day operations of the CEO and his staff, why should they?!

They appear to consider their role to be the oversight of what is reported to them by their CEO.

Shire CEO’s have two magic words ’operational matters’ that allow them to be as Machiavellian, malevolent, malicious, mischievous and mal-administrative as they like. And politely tell councillors to ‘piss-off’ while they are doing it.

Then they can happily have a permanent loan of municipal monies to take faux work trips, munch on gourmet meals, slurp decent wines and burp in the best accommodation they can find.  Then the next step is to have $100 each way on the first at Ascot or seek a paper bag of cash from a local property developer by turning a Local Government Principle into a convenient Guideline. There are really no adequate checks and balances to prevent this.

It is suggested in the report that Dacre Alcock had excessive powers exacerbated by the Local Government Act, 1995. 
Alcock had complete control over the Shire of Dowerin’s financial management system and everything else for that matter. Sound Familiar?

Alcock chose a staff member who had no qualifications and little experience as Finance Manager, then took over the role himself. Sound familiar? 

Alcock hid the use of his Corporate Credit Card from any form of financial oversight. ( Once again this sounds familiar, but in the case of Ray Hooper, public disclosure of credit card statements was deliberately withheld by the then Shire President, Pat Hooper, with the agreement of Council  and the kind assistance of the Department of Local Government.

And Alcock was considered to be lazy. Sound familiar?

So what would have gone a long way to prevent the Dowerin disaster?

In 2008 the Minister for Local Government and his department were inundated with complaints from the York community regarding what Ray Hooper used his Corporate Credit Card for. Then- questioned why, with the approval of Council, was he allowed to hide these transactions from public scrutiny. His expenditure over a ten-year period was well in excess of $200,000.

Ray Hooper then openly, with the blessing of Council, rid himself of staff who he did not like and gradually surrounded himself with mainly female, senior Local Government Officer Acolytes.

These officers did not have the relevant qualifications and sufficient experience to undertake their duties in the best interest of ratepayers and the community at large. Both the Minister and the Department of Local Government were made well aware of this fact.

Hooper made these staff appointments to ensure that he had complete control, in fact excessive control, over every facet of the Shire of York’s administration. (To this end he was strongly supported by a mainly sycophantic and thereby ‘approving’ council for much of his tenure.)

Dacre Alcock was appointed as CEO of the Shire of Dowerin in 2008 at the same time as the numerous complaints were being launched to the appropriate authorities regarding Ray Hooper’s use of his Shire’s Corporate Credit Card.

In early 2011, Ray Hooper appointed a Deputy CEO with no relevant qualifications and insufficient experience. In 2011, Dacre Alcock, appointed a Finance Manager with no relevant qualifications and insufficient experience. Both were women and one was definitely made to feel inferior in her role.

In 2011, Alcock began his criminal career involving 665 stealing charges at around $1000 per credit card transaction, resulting in a four and a half year jail sentence, with over $600,000 stolen,  including associated financial damage.

The parallels between York and Dowerin are obvious and the reasons are obvious, insufficient governance, lack a demand for financial transparency and placing untrained staff in positions where they could be coerced, manipulated or bullied into inaction or inappropriate actions. York had the addition of some compliant, rather than just plain ignorant Councillors.

Will the WACCC report change anything? Hardly likely as there are too many vested interests ranging from the WA Local Government Association, The Local Government Managers Association, then lawyers and auditors, to local government planners and visioning/ideation gurus.

For a grip on a fist full of dollars, and a few dollars more, they will all fight to hang around this $2.2 billion Local Government chocolate box.

David Taylor.

Go to Link:   Report on a Matter of Governance at the Shire of Dowerin

WILL SANTA CLAUS COME TO TOWN?

This is mainly an extract from a letter that has been sent on behalf of a group of concerned community members to the Premier, Colin Barnett, and the Minister for Local Government, Paul Miles, politely requesting that the Shire of York’s current financial situation is adequately monitored to ensure it remains tenable.

In the last recorded Council Minutes, October 24, 2016, there is listed an uncollected Shire Council rates component of $3,506.072 with an additional outstanding sundry debtors’ ledger of $338.574, a total of $3,854.646.

At this moment in time the salary and superannuation paid to employees over this financial year, the on-costs such as insurance, various allowances and access to tools of trade and other required infrastructural support may not be fully covered by the final amount of rate revenue collected in the financial year.

Without recourse to a massive, successful, rate revenue recovery campaign, probably involving expensive legal action, the current scenario could see a projected Shire debt of over $1.million developing well into the New Year. The Shire of York could then be facing a form of technical insolvency.

Given that as of October 24, 2016, 80% of rate revenue had yet to be collected- the summation is that at the end the annual financial reporting period- 40% of rate revenue will remain uncollected - so a disastrous shortfall in Shire rates income is possible as of June 30, 2017.

This particular imbroglio may have been created by a recent massive increase in Shire of York rates that has financially adversely affected and angered ratepayers.

Also just 7.5% of the Sundry Debt has been collected with most remaining outstanding for in excess of 90 days, being $338.574 in total.

 Auditors and lawyers acting on behalf of the Shire may have already assessed that much of this is an un-recoupable debt, possibly mainly relating to a business now associated with the disbarred York Real Estate Agent, Colin King.

As the origins of much of the debt could date back to 2007, the figure excludes any interest rate accrual, penalties for non-payment and legal and accounting fees. Being over a period of up to 10 years-this debt should now be in the vicinity of $500,000.

Shire of York financial records show it has cash assets of around $3.6 million that could be used as a last resort to stave off serious short-to-medium term liquidity problems and possible insolvency.

The Shire has previously claimed it has further tangible Assets to the value of $133 million. This is highly debatable- and unlikely.

 Known assets that could be sold such as land, buildings and plant would be extremely lucky to fetch more than $6 million in the current economic climate.

As examples, the community asset, the York Recreation and Convention Centre with a (2011) replacement value of $7 million according to architects Hodge, Collard, Preston, would be lucky to fetch $2 million in an asset sale even with its Tavern Licence. It has failed miserable to be profitable within either its Tavern Licence/ restaurant arm or with convention bookings.

The Old Convent School purchased by Local Government Commissioner, James Best, in 2015 for $625,000 would have a real value of under $400,000 because of required restoration costs.

Such a small amount for two major assets in sale/profit realization is less than 10% of supposed total asset value of $133million and is less than the Shire of York’s overall income, including grant funding, per annum. Total debt compared to real asset value could be as high as 50%.

So lack of rates and sundry debt recovery, linked to unmaintained and unknown assets, suggest a potential serious liquidity problem.

Neither the YRCC or the Old Convent School assets had any adequate form of due diligence undertaken by the Shire representatives with regard to their commercial viability, short and long term  financial sustainability, and overall necessity to the community prior to the build and the purchase.

In fact former Shire senior staff, some Councillors and the Administrator would have been dismissed and probably be prosecuted if it had been a private enterprise build and purchase with the evaluation based on commercial reality, adjudged under corporations law and then by reasonable stakeholder expectations.

Unfortunately the current Shire of York administration now claims to have no overall idea of what assets it has and what is their actual value.

In a recent letter to me from the Chief Executive Officer, Paul Martin, he confirmed this as fact and admitted that these unregistered assets, their condition, maintenance, renewal and upgrade are a fundamental requirement for the Shire’s financial sustainability.

Mr. Martin’s further comment was ‘ Until the Shire understands what assets it has, what condition they are in and how much they will cost to maintain into the future we are unable to accurately determine our (the Shires) long term financial sustainability’.

The matter is so serious the Shire intends to hire a dedicated Asset Management Officer to be involved in the so-called ‘capturing’ of its assets.

Some known assets are in an extreme state of disrepair and/or neglect requiring millions of dollars to be spent on maintenance in the immediate future. Shire roads alone could cost $1 million per annum just to maintain them in their current dilapidated state.

Given these circumstances and the pending State Election of 2017, I call on you as Minister for Local Government to undertake an independent financial risk assessment of the Shire of York finances with a view to assisting, where necessary, in ensuring the Shire’s financial situation remains tenable.

As a public/voter perception, the possible financial collapse of the Shire of York, that includes WA’s oldest and most historic inland town, could spell out an emotive electoral disaster in the making and not something any government should countenance at this late time in the electoral cycle.

I have advised you of a situation that has been caused by past internal financial mismanagement, obscured by a lack of financial accountability demanded by the Department of Local Government and stymied by the fact that the Auditor General, Colin Murphy, is still yet to receive a remit to fully investigate financial auditing procedures and associated malpractice within local government councils.

As this is now known to you- it is incumbent upon you to establish whether this is fact or an over-simplification of a complex government and ratepayer funded financial system that would see private businesses go bankrupt and their executives’ actions examined under the Australian Corporations Act, 2001

I hope you will kindly respond to this letter and its request at your earliest convenience. No matter what- a request has been registered with you and your department and the Premier and his department by a third party that should be required to be recorded through ministerial obligations under the State Records Act, 2000. Notification of your receipt of this letter is automatic.

Thank you: - David Taylor (Shire of York Ratepayer.)

(Footnote)

If you do not ask, you do not receive. If you do not receive you may well regret not asking.

It is of some interest to note that Tony Simpson was The Minister for Local Government and Communities. Paul Miles is the Minister for Local Government, Community Services.

There is been a change in name from a single portfolio, encapsulating both local government and communities, to a separate portfolio status. Communities and local governments always should have been important, stand-alone positions because local government often does not represent the best interests of the community or deliver all the required community services.

Maybe Tony Simpson’s bumbling ineptitude did local communities a favour?