Figuring out county finances

Let’s see, back in February of last year as about-to-retire CEO Carmel Angelo was farewell addressing from various media platforms, she traced her county government career as one of stark contrasts. As pointed out last week by the Anderson Valley Advertiser’s Mark Scaramella, Mike Geniella reported last February, “As she prepares to step down, Angelo said she is especially satisfied that the county, facing near bankruptcy in 2010, is today on firm financial footing with $20 million in reserves in the face of an annual operating budget of $340 million. ‘I leave knowing the situation today is much healthier than when I was appointed CEO in 2010,’ said Angelo.”

Since then, the Board Of Supervisors has discovered the financial footing is about as firm as standing on a tub of Jello.

Goodbye $20 million in reserves, hello $6.1 million deficit.

There were delays in closing out the county’s books for the past fiscal year, and a required outside, independent audit is not quite completed yet.

Likewise, the shoot-yourown-foot consolidation of the Treasurer-Tax Collector/Auditor-Controller offices, has turned into the messy shotgun wedding that some experienced government financial-types predicted it would be.

Here’s a suggestion for the Supervisors.

No matter what one may think of former CEO Angelo’s management style, she is recognized by most of us who follow these things, as being a proficient and very knowledgeable budgeteer. She knew and knows the budget process. There was certainly some disagreement over her handling and representations of budget matters, but she knew her figures, she knew budget math.

So why not bring her back, either in person or via Zoom, and talk to her.

The Supes and their staff could then dialogue with Angelo and see what she has to say about this current unsettled financial situation the county now finds itself in since it doesn’t appear that “the situation today is much healthier than when I was appointed CEO in 2010.”

Should be a good meeting if it happens.

Might find out what happened that caused things to change so much in such a short time.

Court forces disclosure of Trump’s skimpier than skimpy tax returns

Former Prez Donald Trump’s tax returns were released last week by the House Ways and Means Committee

The released documents showed that he paid very little in income taxes spanning from 2015 to 2020, the last four years when he served as president.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court OK’d the congressional committee to receive copies of six years of Trump’s tax returns from the Treasury Department, despite Trump’s argument that the request was “politically motivated” and a “witch hunt.”

It should be noted that Trump is the only president to have refused to make his tax returns public during his two presidential campaigns. For at least 50 all men and women running for the White House have voluntarily disclosed the information.

Why all his reluctance to let people know about his finances and how much he paid in taxes?

The Trumpster answered that question during the 2016 presidential debate when he egotistically but weakly replied, “that makes me smart,” and argued that if he did, the money would be “squandered.”

Huh? It’s what we call a Fyou response.

Over the years, Trumped argued he couldn’t release financial documents while he was under a “routine audit” by the IRS.

But that was a whopper because there is no law or regulatory restriction preventing any citizen from releasing tax returns while under an IRS audit “routine” or otherwise.

According to a congressional report released earlier this month, Trump and his wife Melania “reported negative income and little tax liability during multiple years throughout 2015 to 2020, and paid no federal income tax in 2020,” Trump’s last year in office.

According to a report by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, “Trump used deductions to avoid paying taxes in some years, which should have been noted by the IRS. Trump reported massive business losses to offset his earnings and therefore reduce tax bills.”

The committee members also said they noticed that in many filings of reported streams of income, the former president’s earnings and expenses matched exactly or there was no reported income at all, indicating that he may have improperly deducted money spent for personal purchases as business expenses.

All of these findings support media reports from 2020 showing that Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018 by reporting millions more in losses than earnings for several of his properties. Compare Trump’s miniscule filings with the average tax filer paying about $12,200, about 16 times more than the One-Percenter multibillionaire.

Our former Congressman Mike Thompson, who now represents another district, more or less summed up the disgusting tax disclosure clown show by saying, “The idea that somebody is making millions of dollars and can get away without paying their taxes by avoiding — in an unprecedented way — their tax liability, while single moms who are trying to take care of their kids are being audited, is absolutely unacceptable.”

Here’s a hot tip for Thompson: Trump is not the only rich-beyond-your-dreams tax cheater eluding their moral — if not legal — obligation to pay their fair share of taxes.

Turn your steely gaze on them also, Mr. Congressman.

Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific. net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org