Guest Editorial....

CP Mary Ann Matters, March 18, 2015 Board Meeting, Opening Comments:

FOR A WHILE NOW, SEVERAL BOARD MEMBERS, MYSELF INCLUDED, HAVE BEEN QUESTIONING THE STATE AND STABILITY OF THE TOWN’S FINANCES, MOST RECENTLY THE PAY-BACK AMOUNTS OF THE INTER-FUND BORROWING DEBT, BEFORE WE CAN JUSTIFY RAISING WATER AND SEWER RATES. IN RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RELIABILITY OF OUR PRESENT ACCOUNTING SYSTEM, WE HAVE BEEN GETTING THE SAME RESPONSE FROM THE COMPTROLLER FOR THE PAST 15 MONTHS, WHICH IS THAT THE TOWN’S ACCOUNTING SYSTEM IS “BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR” BUT THAT WE HAVEN’T “EARNED THE PRIVILEGE YET OF BUYING NEW ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE.” THE PROBLEM WITH THIS RESPONSE, AS I SEE IT, IS THAT SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS ARE APPARENTLY BEING GENERATED BY THIS BROKEN SYSTEM AND CLAIMS ARE NOW BEING MADE IN THE ADVERTISER ABOUT DEBT REPAYMENT “ESTIMATES” THAT WE ARE BEING EXPECTED TO ACCEPT AS TRUE AND CORRECT, WHILE OUR COMPTROLLER, BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, CONTINUES TO “LEARN AND DISCERN OUR TRANSACTIONS SO THAT HE CAN UNDERSTAND THEM CLEARLY.” MEANWHILE, A TOSKI ACCOUNTING FIRM LETTER DATED NOVEMBER 18, 2014 DROPPED US AS CLIENTS AND ADVISED US THAT THE FOLLOWING NEEDED IMMEDIATE ATTENTION: “CORRECTIONS TO THE INTERNAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM TO ENABLE THE TOWN TO GENERATE ACCURATE AND TIMELY FINANCIAL INFORMATION WITH APPROPRIATE INTERNAL CONTROL CHECKS AND BALANCES.” THIS MEANS THAT WE DON’T HAVE THAT NOW, YET NUMBERS ARE BEING REPORTED THAT THE INTERFUND BORROWING DEBT HAS GONE FROM $2.3M TO $1.6M IN THREE YEARS. IN ORDER FOR THE BOARD TO BE RESPONSIBLE AND EFFECTIVE STEWARDS OF THE TOWN’S FINANCES, WE MUST RECEIVE MONTHLY FINAL (NOT DRAFT) OPERATING STATEMENTS, AND OTHER REPORTS, IN WRITING, THAT ARE SIGNED AND DATED BY THE COMPTROLLER AND THE SUPERVISOR/CFO OF THE TOWN, DETAILING AND EXPLAINING BUDGET LINE TRANSFERS, THE STATUS OF THE INTERFUND BORROWING DEBT IN THE HIGHWAY, GENERAL, WATER AND SEWER FUNDS, OUR CREDIT AND BOND RATINGS, AND THE AUDIT BY OSC THAT IS PRESENTLY ONGOING.  HOWEVER, WE ARE UNABLE TO TRUST THIS BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR ACCOUNTING SYSTEM TO PROVIDE ACCURATE NUMBERS AND INTERNAL CONTROLS THAT ARE NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE OPERATION.  PROPERLY DESIGNED AND FUNCTIONING ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE INCLUDES CONTROLS THAT REDUCE THE LIKELIHOOD OF SIGNIFICANT ERRORS AND/OR FRAUD GOING UNDETECTED, HOWEVER, WHEN I ASKED MR. PHILLIPS JUST LAST WEEK IF HE THINKS WE WILL BE READY TO GRADUATE TO A NEW ACCOUNTING SYSTEM BY THE FALL, HE SAID, TO MY DISMAY, “NO, NOT THIS YEAR.” THE TOWN OF EAST GREENBUSH NEEDS RELIABLE ACCOUNTING, RECONCILIATION, AND REPORTING SOFTWARE, AND WE NEED IT NOW!

Feathers' Last Stand: A Parable - By Jack Conway

In June of 1876, decorated Civil War hero General George Armstrong Custer led the 7^th Cavalry Regiment into battle against the Lakota nation.  Shown the way by Indian scouts hoping to make a fast buck, Custer refused offers of heavy artillery (a Gatling Gun) and failed to link up with several other companies because of a lack of respect for the Lakota warriors.  Unaware that Sitting Bull had dreamed of “soldiers falling upside down into our camp,” a prophecy he would have dismissed as savage superstition anyway, Custer believed that the Lakota people lacked the knowledge and sophistication that made his regiment unbeatable in a confrontation like this. Receiving advance information from his Indian scouts, Custer learned that he should launch a sneak attack before his position was discovered.  On the morning of June 25^th, Custer and his men rode over the ridge near the Little Big Horn – known to the Lakota as the Greasy Grass – expecting a relatively small band of local yokels to offer at best token resistance to not only his soldiers but to his dreams of power and fortune.  Instead he rode into the better part of the entire Lakota nation, and not a few Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho.  The rest is well known to history except perhaps for the Lakota myth about what happened to his dead body as he lay vanquished on the battlefield.  According to native custom, two old Lakota women took bone awls and cut holes where Custer’s ears had been.  They did so, it is said, so that he would hear better in the next life.

In April 2014, renowned power broker Jimmy Feathers led the Saratoga Casino Regiment into the Town of East Greenbush.  Shown the way by local landowners hoping to make a fast buck, Feathers disregarded the need for heavier artillery and failed to link up with the true representatives of the native community, shunning them out of a lack of respect and falling for the myth that the surrender of their discredited ‘chiefs’ was all he needed.  Feathers believed that the people of East Greenbush lacked the knowledge and sophistication that had made him invincible in previous battles.  Receiving advance information from his landowner scouts, Feathers learned that it was best to mount a sneak attack with a generic resolution before anyone knew he was coming.  These local yokels would be fending off an army of addicted gamblers before they knew what hit them.  But when Feathers and his crew rode over the ridge on Thompson Hill expecting to find at best token resistance, not only to his casino but to his dreams of more power and greater fortune, the whole East Greenbush nation, and not a few North Greenbushers and Schodackians, were waiting for him.  The rest is now well known to history.  We cut no holes where his ears had been but we did send a message to other corporate predators who think we won’t defend our territory: East Greenbush is not for sale.

The Times Union is reporting today that the Casino PDD application has been withdrawn.  The land on which it was to be built is for sale.  Apart from cleaning up a few legal details and paying the SEG attorney, the Battle of Thompson Hill is over.