This entry is about several of the intrepid travelers and foodies who serve on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners. You remember the Washtenaw Board of Commissioners, right? They’re the elected officials who administer a $200,000,000 county budget which is, at the moment, $30 million dollars in red.
In short, fellow politicos, Washtenaw County’s budget looks like those of the millions of Americans buffeted by the economy. County debt has doubled, as have debt payments, income is down and expenses are up. Of course, in response to any similar state of the economy at your house you and the fam are eating out just as much as ever, traveling to all the places you used to, and shacking up at the Hilton. No?
Of course you’re not; you’re spending your own (damn, bloody, darn, effing) [choose one, please] money. You’re making sandwiches for 12 on a single can of tuna, light on the mayo (have you seen mayo prices, lately?!?) Super Eight is the new Hilton when you travel, if you travel. The last visit to Gramma’s house was by iChat. Techno-visits keep the oldsters from giving too much candy to the kids.
There are some people, however, who never lose their taste for meals out and expensive hotel rooms—despite the economic crisis. You know them, in fact. They work for you.
On September 17th, I wrote a piece titled, “Guenzel and Gunn Propose Millage to Fund Director of Economic Development, and SPARK.” In that piece I told you about County Commissioner Kristin Judge, who, rather that see human services cut, whipped out her county-paid cell phone and turned it in. I interviewed County Commish Judge about the county’s budget woes here, on September 19th. Next, I wrote about the Commissioners on October 9th in a piece titled, “A2, Have a Funny Feeling? It’s County Commissioner Conan Smith’s Hand in Your Pocket.” In that piece, I wrote that County’s Ways & Means Committee (of which Ann Arbor Commissioner Conan Smith is the Chair) had voted to impose a new property tax called the Act 88 of 1913. County Administrator Robert Guenzel had dug up that little gem. All four of Ann Arbor’s County Commissioners voted in support of the Act 88 millage.
At the October 21st meeting, at which the Commissioners would have voted to levy the millage, they, instead, tabled the vote until after the November 3rd elections. I wrote about that here.
New property taxes, cuts to human services funding, and wage concessions from unionized employees were all ways that our Washtenaw County Commissioners and County Administrator Robert Guenzel considered to balance the budget.
Thanks to a FOIA of credit card records, we have a window into some belt-tightening strategies our County Commissioners didn’t consider: Bag lunches, holding staff and constituent meetings at the County building, cutting out travel, and staying at modestly-priced hotels.
Commissioner Ken Schwartz, instead of holding meetings with constituents in a conference room or office at the County Building at 220 North Main, held meetings at Chili’s Grill, the Sidetrack Bar & Grill and (his favorite) Dalat, a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant (I recommend it when you have a bit of extra money). County Administrator Robert Guenzel is also fond of holding meetings at restaurants instead of in boring conference rooms or offices at the County Building. He held staff meetings at Paesano’s Restaurant, and Conor O’Neill’s (the beers are on, well, all 347,000 of us). While at the Flex in the City Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas in August of 2009, Mr. Guenzel enjoyed the hospitality of the Hilton. It was a mere $137.99. Hilton on a shoestring, let’s call it.
The biggest spender of all was the Chair of the County’s Ways and Means Committee, the committee that oversees the county’s budget. That was Ann Arbor County Commissioner Conan Smith. In May of 2009, while attending the Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island, taxpayers treated Smith to a $889.04 room at the Grand Hotel. He had the $11 breakfast, too. Did I miss the memo? When did Washtenaw County become a member of the Detroit “regional” Chamber of Commerce? Is Ann Arbor considered part of the “Detroit” region?
I end this with a tale of FOIAed credit card statements from Commissioner Jessica Ping. While at the 4-day National Association of Counties conference in late-July 2009, she racked up a $445.44 hotel bill. It was Ping’s food expense that caught my eye.
She spent $7.81 for her dinner. At Taco Bell.
Our Washtenaw County Commissioners need to come back to reality and realize that the money they’re spending for $900 hotel rooms and staff meetings held in local restaurants comes from the property taxes of Washtenaw County residents. Home foreclosure rates in Ann Arbor recently hit the double digits.
It’s time for a moratorium on meals out and travel for the entire Board. In September, Kristin Judge gave up her county-paid cell phone. At the next meeting, I’d love to see her and her colleagues give up their county credit cards.