The 708 Board Building at 620 Dakota Street Crystal Lake.
- Introductions and Review of Retreat Goals
- Discussion of Local, State, and National Trends Affecting Mental Health
- Draft Budget Review, Comment, and Development
- Prioritize One-Year Strategic and Organizational Goals
- Affirm Next Steps and Dates
It will be held at its office building at 620 Dakota Street, Crystal Lake.
How much of the $13 M budget was actually spent?
How many agencies are there that serve the disabled, mentally ill and drug abusers in McHenry County?
Name the agencies that receive this $13 M annually please.
Does this revenue come from our property tax bill?
Most comes from the property tax.
I can’t name the agencies, but Pioneer Center certainly must think it gets too little because it was the major force behind the tax hike referendum in April.
It is really hard to say. I know this…
Download this: http://andrewgasser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/MHB-Utilization-Report-FY-2012.pdf
Start on packet page 11.
However, these numbers might not be correct.
As was pointed out by Mary McCann at the last 708 Board Finance Committee meeting, those numbers are not audited and the county does not track them.
Yes – financing of the 708 board comes from your property taxes.
The 708 Board funds are collected through the county levy.
You will not see 708 Board on your tax bill like you would see the McHenry County Conservation Levy.
Hope this helps.
Respectfully,
Andrew Gasser
Do I understand correctly that with a budget of $13 M, these funds are not audited annually?
22,
You are correct. There is no “formal” audit of the budget. The county only has limited oversight of the budget. Here is the 2011 County Budget: http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/departments/countyadministration/Pages/2011Budget.aspx
Budget Summary has one mention: http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/departments/countyadministration/pdfDocs/2011/00_04_CombSumm11.pdf
Board Approved 708 Budget has one mention: http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/departments/countyadministration/pdfDocs/2011/00_07_00_RevBudLine11.pdf
Four year comparison has one mention: http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/departments/countyadministration/pdfDocs/2011/00_09_00_RevByFund11.pdf
Simply go through all the documents and search “708 Board” and that is the extent of the oversight.
I am not throwing stones at the people – but the process. There needs to be a better process and I hope the people who have the power to improve the process of accounting really make some strong moves.
There is a reason people like Donna Kurtz, Mike Walkup, John Hammerand, and others on the outside, like myself, are really upset. This is just my opinion after looking at this stuff for over three months… but what do I know?
Respectfully,
Andrew Gasser
Good thing we have this blog and First Electric Newspaper or we would never get accurate news.
People, buy your ad from them.
The Northwest Herald is useless.
Good information Andy Gasser.
Andrew: Exactly where was Hammerand for the past 10 years?
Florida maybe?
Where was everyone was everyone when Family services was clearly going down in flames?
And exactly what is Donna’s response to the Mental health Board’s responsibility when she was a member of that said board.
This is SO clearly political it is pathetic.
The state of Illinois requires townships whose revenue exceeds $850,000 to be audited annually.
Why doesn’t this apply to the county Mental Health Boards who take much larger portion of the taxpayer’s money?
Inish – hard when you only have one vote and people do not want to give up on a cash cow.
Donna has been successful in uncovering issues at the college and now on many other issues.
Good job, Donna
T442
Mr. Gasser;
According to the MHB 4/23/13 Finance Committee minutes, ” Mary McCann noted that Baker Tiley (the County’s external auditors) will be doing an audit of MHB and that the State comes throughout the year to monitor compliance.”
That seems pretty clear: MHB funds are audited by the County.
Summary report is available at http://www.co.McHenry.il.us/DEPARTMENTS/AUDITOR/PAGES/annualRpts.aspx. Search for Mental Health Board funds.
Additionally, you were informed that all invoices are reviewed by the Auditor’s office prior to payment.
At the end of each month the Auditor’s office and the MHB reconcile their books to insure they match.
THis is an internal control measure that provides County oversight of the MHB Spending.
Ms. Mary,
I do remember our conversation where you spoke to this and I also remember the meeting.
So what you are saying is that the county, through its monthly internal control measure(s), was well aware of the 580.30% ($240,147.98) over run in legal fees? (This is just one example – more are available upon request)
Because someone in the auditor’s office reviews all the bills every month for the 708 board, someone must have known that there were these over-budgeting problems with the legal bills.
With someone at the auditor’s office knowing of these problems well before the mental health board hit 580.30% for the year (because you said invoices for the 708 board are reviewed monthly), was this over-budgeting problem for this particular line item detected or was it not?
If the problem of over spending the budgeted line item was not detected through the county auditor’s monthly internal control measure(s) we have a problem.
Why was it not detected and who is in charge of the measure(s) or process?
If the problem of overspending the budgeted line item was detected through the county auditor’s monthly internal control measure(s) we have a problem.
Who specifically detected the problem and why was this not brought forward and addressed sooner?
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Why not ask the question at say, 125% or even 150%, or in my case 102.5%?
Was this ever brought to your attention for further scrutiny?
I think we are beginning to see the problem here and thanks in advance for your response Ms. Mary.
Respectfully,
Andrew Gasser
Audited or not?
That is the question.
Of course, they should be audited monthly and held accountable for their over spending.
That is elementary.
Where is our County Auditor’s statement on this gross over-taxing and over-spending government body?
I would like to see some accountability, since Mchenry County wanted another Mental Health board created in our last election.
They can’t even run one Mental Health board with fiscal integrity.
Yet they wanted another one?
Is our county Government following in the footsteps of our federal government, investigating themselves, auditing themselves, one has to wonder.