Tag Archives: finances

Hospital Authority unaudited finances

If the hospital authority had a web site, I suppose this is the type of information that could be provided to the public so that they could know about the operations and financial health of the institution.

-gretchen

On South Georgia Medical Center letterhead 8 May 2012, CERTIFICATE OF CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

I, Greg S. Hembree, the Chief Financial Officer of the Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia D/B/A South Georgia Medical Center, have reviewed the attached unaudited balance sheet, unaudited statement of revenues and expenses, and unaudited statement of cash flows for the six month period ending March 31, 2012, and to the best of my knowledge the statements present fairly the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows of the Authority.

Continue reading →

CUEE radio ad helps alienate Black Crow radio host

About that CUEE radio ad, Rob Harder wrote for Valdosta Today today, “Morgan Freeman” CUEE Ad Fires Up Debate
A new radio ad from the Community Unification for Educational Excellence, Inc (CUEE) has sparked a lot of controversy in the few days it has been running in local media.

…

The ad, voiced by an actor who sounds like Morgan Freeman but is not, encourages Valdosta city residents to vote “Yes” on school consolidation November 8th. The commercial claims that Valdosta schools are “once again segregated” and ties the success of the vote to Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision.

Callers to the Chris Beckham Show, which airs from 3PM to 6PM each weekday on WVGA 105.9 FM, were overwhelming in their condemnation of the ad.

Yes, that’s what Chris Beckham told me when I talked to him today. I’ll be on his radio show on WVGA 105.9, tomorrow, about 4PM.

You can hear the radio ad in the Valdosta Today article.

The article contains this priceless quote by the real Morgan Freeman, Continue reading →

If I were Superintendent —Sam Allen

Seen on the FVCS facebook page, dated 6 October 2011. -jsq
If I were Superintendent in the Lowndes County School System on November 9, 2011 and I had 7700 additional students and a potential $10 Million Deficit this would be my starting list:

Winners:

  • Bus Drivers (ALL – NO supervisors, trainers or mechanics)
  • Lunchroom Staff (Until we decide which schools to close)
  • Custodial Staff (Until we decide which schools to close – no supervisor)
  • Media Specialists (Until we decide which schools to close – then I would move you down to the Losers section)
  • 2 Maintenance Workers (Heating/Air – no supervisor)
  • Academic Teachers (with good evaluations) – NOT ALL because I would raise teacher class size to the max and ask for a waiver for an additional child or two 1 Asst. Superintendent
  • 2 Technology support staff (no Supervisors)
  • School Secty (Until we decide which schools to close)
  • 1 Finance staff person (Payroll)
  • Principals (Until we decide which schools to close – except Southeast, will not rebuild)

Losers:

  • Teachers (especially ones that do not have tenure)
  • Assistant Principals (at Elementary Schools that have more than one)
  • Media Specialists (Until we decide which schools to close)
  • 3 Curriculum Directors at Central Office
  • Technology Supervisor
  • Special Education Director
  • 2 Assistant Superintendents
  • Director of ESPLOST Projects
  • Superintendent
  • All Central Office Support Staff
  • Food Service Director and Staff
  • Ticket Manager
  • Community Relations Director
  • 1 Social Worker
  • VECA Staff (ALL)
  • Pinevale Learning Center Staff (ALL)
  • Personnel Director and Staff
  • Title I Director and Staff
  • Director of Testing
  • Mail Courier
  • Vocational Teachers due to change in direction (Not All)
  • Elective Teachers (Some)
  • Parent Involvement Coordinators (Title I $ will be cut)
  • Instructional Supervisors
  • Para Educators (except for Special Education)
  • Valdosta Police Department Dare Officers/SRO’s and Football Games (taken over by the County if funding is available)
  • 1 Band Director at VHS – student fees will increase and school will not furnish as many instruments
  • Performing Arts Center Mgr. – public will be charged a higher costs to use
  • Director of Purchasing and Staff
  • 1 School Psychologist
  • 9 Board of Education Members
  • 2 @ Asst Principals at VMS and JLN
  • 2 Asst Principals at VHS
  • No Swim Team staff
  • IB Teachers would be relocated if positions are available
  • 5 Furlough days for the first year
  • School Board Attorney

School Closing:

  • Southeast
  • Pinevale Learning Center
  • VECA
  • JL Lomax ???
  • Parker Mathis
  • Old Pine Grove
  • Moulton- Branch ????

Sell:

  • Bazemore Hyder Stadium and Central Office to VSU at Fair Market Value – Wildcat Museum would be housed at the Historical Society
  • Southeast School
  • VECA to VSU at Fair Market Value
  • Pinevale Learning Center
Now it took me about 15 minutes to come up with this list and it’s not near what my actually happen during the 2011-12 school year if we don’t get people out to vote against this misguided attempt to dismantle our schools. If I didn’t include you don’t thank for one second that you are safe. Remember I didn’t hire you and I don’t owe you anything, so pay your bills on time and keep your credit ratings high because you may need to rent for a while.

-Samuel Allen, Superintendent Emeritus

Consolidation: A Financial Puzzle —Dr. Troy Davis @ LCBOE 4 October 2011

Dr. Troy Davis spelled out where we are financially in the school systems, and what consolidation would do to that: it would raise taxes and reduce services.

He took CUEE’s own figures for how much more consolidation would require to be spent per each Valdosta City school student, and demonstrated that not only would that require raising taxes for both Valdosta and Lowndes County residents to near the state-capped maximum of 21 mils, but even then there is no way enough tax revenue would be generated to pay for all the things CUEE proposes to do after consolidation, and probably not even enough taxes to continue employing all the teachers currently employed by the two school systems. Oh, plus consolidation would lose state and federal grant money by increasing the composite school system size, so the local taxpayers would have to make up that slack, too.

Here are his slides.

Here is a playlist.

-jsq

Diff Operating Budget —Tom Call @ VLCIA 17 May 2011

Usually silent VLCIA board member Tom Call got a board meeting agenda item:
Mr. Jerry and I met on May the second to review the… I was kind of educating myself as to the current operating budget and how it applies… goes into forming next year’s budget…. There’s just a few differences from the 2011 budget to the proposed 2012 budget.
He listed a couple of items:
Line item 32: Park maintenance.
Miller Business Park is added for this year.
Below line 51: Signage.
“Improve signage at some of our entrances.”
Chairman Jerry Jennett asked board members to take it home, redline it, and bring it back for a vote next meeting.

Here’s the video:


Diff Operating Budget —Tom Call @ VLCIA 17 May 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Clearly audible outside are people honking at the biomass protesters.

OMG! VLCIA has finally put 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