September 5, 2008
I agree it's high time the municipalities were required to make full public disclosures. Too much money is being invested blindly by individuals in search of tax-exempt income to municipalities full of lazy inefficient do-nothing public servants who are interested mainly in doing as little as possible between 9:30 and 4:30 other than gossipping, eating and clock watching. Aside from the lack of accountablility, I read that many of these municipalities arent even filing their financial reports with the NIRMSRs until they need to refinance. That is abominable. I anticipate a big problem far greater than the WHOOPS bond fiasco, the California (San Diego) failure to disclose pension liabilities, and most recently, the Sewer Bond fiasco down in Alabama or Mississippi where they can't afford to pay off the bonds. What we have are a bunch of yahoos running these municipalities who are not accountable, and who spend money like it's going out of style on themselves without penalties. Make these yahoos sign Sarbanes-Oxlee type certifications the way the CFO's and the CEO's do now for public companies to hold them PERSONALLY accountable for misstatements. I think that would go a long way toward increasing accountability or potentially filling up the jailhouses with a bunch of losers that misstate their financials. Put some teeth into regulating the tax-exempts before we all bear the brunt of their failures.