L.A.O. under budget attack again

[Rob Tucker]

L.A.O. under budget attack again

I’m not sure how many people know that L.A.O. stands for Legislative Auditor’s Office. The L.A.O. is the office that examines our county departments fiscal operations with an eye to improving efficiency and transparency. We have learned a lot from the audits of Public Works, Parks & Recreation, Water Supply, etc.

Some of our council appreciate the L.A.O. - Dominic Yagong does for example. Brenda Ford, Pete Hoffman. Others on council, Dennis Onishi and Donald Ikeda, have been very supportive of Mayor Kenoi’s history of reducing the L.A.O.’s budget. Their budget has been cut almost 80% since 2009 when Kenoi took office. There is a message there that's easy to read.

It’s happening again. Dennis Onishi put forth an amendment to cut the L.A.O.’s budget the other day. There seems to be a determination to leave this office unable to function as legally required.

I write this to ask everyone to take a simple minute and send a note of testimony to council in opposition to any reductions of the L.A.O’s budget.

Really, we need these auditors. They give us great bang for the buck.

Council Testimony <counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us>

Subject Line: Opposed to cutting the L.A.O. Budget

Mahalo,

Rob Tucker

[james weatherford]

Thanks, Rob, for the heads up!

Just sent my testimony:
"The Legislative Auditor is established by the County Charter, an indication of its central importance to the functioning and operations of our County government.
Please support better functioning and operations of our County government with support for the Legislative Auditor's Office.
Do not decrease the funding of the Legislative Auditor's Office.
Rather, try to find a way to increase support for the Legislative Auditor's Office, including with increased funding if possible."

[hotinhawaii]

Thanks, Rob. Just sent an email opposing more cuts and encouraging an increase in their budget.

[csgray]

This is really bad government and classic protection of the status quo. Bad, bad idea.

Carol

[LeeE]

Just emailed. Mahalo Rob & James.

Lee Eisenstein
http://members.cruzio.com/~lionel/event

"Be kinder than necessary, as everyone you meet is engaged in some kind of strudel."

[Rob Tucker]

It is a good day to send in testimony if you are so inclined.

Assume the best and ask questions.

Punaweb moderator

[4antares]

Another email sent. As is mentioned above this exemplifies really bad government and protection of the status quo.

life is short. enjoy it

[Obie]

So James Weatherford is saying that he is going to do such a bad job, if elected,that he would need an auditor ????

The council members in charge are responsible for oversight.

The Auditor's office is required to hire an auditor to audit the Auditor's office.

Maybe we should pay an auditor to audit the auditor who audits our county auditor or not !!!

[james weatherford]

The responsibilities of the Legislative Auditor extend well beyond Council operations:
From the Hawaii County Charter:
"The legislative auditor shall conduct or cause to be conducted:
(1) The annual financial audit of the county, as required in Article X, Financial Procedures, Section 10-13, Post-audit.
(2) Performance and/or financial audits of the funds, programs, services, and operations of any county agency, executive agency, or program, as set forth by the legislative auditor in an annual audit plan that shall be transmitted to the county council and the mayor and filed with the county clerk as a public record.
(3) Follow-up audits and monitoring of responses to audit recommendations by audited entities.
(e) For purposes of this section, “county agency” or “executive agency” includes any office, department, board, commission, agency, semi-autonomous agency, or other governmental unit of the county in the executive or legislative branch that is supported, in whole or in part, by county funds."

[4antares]

Expecting the council to audit itself for efficiency and transparency is roughly equivalent to asking the fox to guard the henhouse. Elected officials are notorious for denying problems exist because that would be admitting they weren't doing their job. An independent auditor is much more likely to perform an unbiased evaluation. Politicians policing themselves generally leads to the good old boy cronyism that pretty much seems to describe local politics.

life is short. enjoy it