Usually people run for county or municipal office because of their interest in government activities or programs – they want to advocate for schools, or parks, or affordable housing. Some have a general sense of wanting to give back or be involved in what’s going on around them. I’ve never seen anyone run on the platform of “I’m really good at reading a governmental balance sheet.”
And yet, overseeing local government finances is one of the important and inescapable duties of elected officials. For any shortcomings of management and finance staff – and any failure to recognize any shortcomings – the buck stops at the council dais.
For many legal purposes, elected officials are treated just the same as board members of for-profit companies. If you ask the Securities Exchange Commission, for example, the elected officials are as responsible for the locality’s securities offerings as are the board members of a Fortune 500. That may not be entirely fair. Corporate board members are specifically selected or elected based on their perceived expertise in supervising the management of that business, and their ability to contribute to the success of that business, and the basis for election is usually . . . different. But that’s the way it goes.
Financial oversight is not the fun or glamourous part of being an elected official, but your residents and taxpayers are counting on you, and there’s no one else who can assume that responsibility. I don’t have much sympathy for an elected official who says something like ”We had no idea that our finances were out of control for three years.” Take the training, get familiar, do the work.
Here’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. This isn’t an isolated issue and I know nothing about this situation other than what’s in the State Treasurer’s release, but it’s an example.
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