County Officials Refute Overspending Charges

Goldwater Institute officials did not have sufficient opportunity to respond to Navajo County’s claim prior to press time. Their response will appear in an upcoming edition of The Tribune-News.

According to Goldwater Institute, Navajo County exceeded its budget in fiscal year 2008-09 by $3,545,023. Menlove explained that spending was actually under budget, but the document from which the figures were taken did not contain complete information.

According to Menlove, the document used by the Goldwater Institute contained all of the expenditures, but only a portion of the budgeted items.

“For example, it had the budget from only one line item in a department, when there should have been several line items, but it had the expenditures from all of the line items, so it made it appear that expenditures were greater than the budget,” he said.

Menlove noted that since the document is part of the county’s audit, he has contacted the Office of the Auditor General. He noted that the inaccurate document will have no effect on the county’s audit for that year, which had already been completed and approved. Menlove also pointed out that a representative of the auditor general’s office indicated that the information from that document was not accurately reflected.

“It was taken and made to sound a certain way that it really was not meant to be,” he remarked.

When asked whether the state had contacted the county regarding overspending or exceeding the expenditure limit, Menlove indicated that they had not.

“No, because we didn’t,” he said. “You can see that we had spending capacity, and you can see that we had savings. We didn’t spend as much as we budgeted.”

According to budget documents provided by Menlove, Navajo County had a general fund budget of $47.3 million in fiscal year 2008-09, and spent $35 million in general funds that year.

“One thing Goldwater did not do that organizations like the Arizona Tax Research Association does, is they did not meet with us personally and they did not send us their findings to verify the information,” Menlove said. “Goldwater never took the opportunity to say ‘is this information correct.’ It’s from 2009, so it’s been out there a while.”

County Manager Jimmy Jayne and Board Chairman David Tenney both pointed out that they take issue with the numbers presented by the Goldwater Institute.

“The information is all available on the county website. They could have pulled it and seen that we are being fiscally responsible,” he said. “Those numbers are not reality.”

Tenney noted in a prepared statement, “It’s not often that I disagree with the Goldwater Institute, which has been a stalwart defender of individual liberty and crusader against government waste since its founding nearly two decades ago.

“However, their much-publicized 2011 Arizona Piglet book takes some liberties with the facts, and makes a number of unfounded and plainly inaccurate accusations about Navajo County’s finances.”

Tenney reiterated Menlove’s statement that complete expenditure totals were used, but budget totals were incomplete.

“What occurred was that the expenditure figures were accurate, however, an incomplete source for the budget, or revenue, figures was used. This source did not reflect all of the revenue available to the county departments. In simple terms, if a county department spent $500,000 and the incomplete budget figures showed revenue of only $400,000, it would appear that the department was a ‘piglet,’ which overspent by $100,000. If, in fact, the department had received grant revenue of $150,000 that was not included in the incomplete figures, then the department was actually operating well within its budget.”

The following are the amounts reported by the Goldwater Institute compared to the amounts reported by Navajo County:

* In the jail division of the sheriff’s office, Goldwater reports that the budget was exceeded by $2,470,975. The county reports that the jail division was under budget by $1,774,264.

* In administration, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $406,502. The county reports it was under budget by $994,215.

* In the county attorney’s office, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $337,017. The county reports it was under budget by $341,173.

* In the sheriff’s office, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $207,170. The county reports it was under budget by $149,005.

* In the superior court, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $69,250. The county reports it exceeded the budget by $56,870.

Menlove noted that the additional expenditures were due to court ordered treatments.

“Crime is a difficult thing to predict with 100-percent accuracy,” he noted. “The superior court was over budget due to medical services and unanticipated caseloads.”

He explained that the superior court budget is based on averages of previous years, but some years more costs are incurred, depending on the number and type of cases. Menlove also pointed out that the judicial branch as a whole was under budget by four percent.

* In information technology, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $31,075. The county reports it was under budget by $277,163.

* For the personnel commission, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $12,486. The county reports it was under budget by $6,927.

* In the Winslow Justice Court, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $5,574. The county reports it was under budget by $7,798.

* For the Snowflake Constable, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $2,142. The county reports it was exceeded by $2,187.

* For the Winslow Constable, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $1,386. The county reports it was exceeded by $713.

* For the Show Low Constable, Goldwater reports the budget was exceeded by $1,346. The county reports it was exceeded by $1,086.

Tenney noted, “When complete and accurate information is used, the results are far different from those reported in the ‘piglet report.’”

Menlove stated, “It’s frustrating to know that we spend a large amount of time watching every dollar, and it’s frustrating to see a report insinuating that we’re not minding the store. The county as a whole is minding the store. We don’t have the dollars to overspend. We’re minding every penny.”

The complete Goldwater report is available at www.goldwaterinstitute.org. County budget documents and financial reports are available at www.navajocountyaz.gov.