When Governor Ted Strickland came to Stark County to tour the Brewster Cheese Factory in early 2008 just after William J. Healy, II had taken office, yours truly spoke with Healy about the condition he found City Hall in on taking office.
Healy said, "Martin, you wouldn't believe it. Janet left things in an absolute mess."
Really?
With all the discussion that is going on these days to get Canton solvent again (a meeting Tuesday at the Civic Center on city finances and Allen Schulman - Council president - floating a "trial balloon" on a "temporary" income tax increase), yours truly decided to do a little fact checking.
So, the SCPR placed a telephone call to Auditor Richard A. Mallonn.
SCPR: "Richard, I have been hearing from readers of the SCPR that Janet Creighton left Mayor Healy with s carryover surplus, is this so?"
MALLONN: "Here is the number Martin: on January 01, 2008 the Healy administration had a cash carryover from the Creighton administration of $3,549.333.00.
The SCPR never has been a fan of Janet Creighton, but you got to hand it to her. She did a heck of a lot better job handling Canton finances than our NYU Stern School of Business graduate who is running things now.
So who created the mess?
Of course, the political cover for Healy is that the national, state and local economies have tanked.
And that is so.
But does that explain going from a $3.5 million surplus to a $3.0 million deficit?
Not to the SCPR. does it.
Could it be that Creighton (with no business degree) was better with finances that our MBA mayor?
I didn't particularly like Creighton either Martin, and had no idea that she left the city in good shape financially.
ReplyDeleteSo, what went wrong? The people thought he would clean up Canton, fill those empty houses, (or demolish them), rid the city of crime. ZERO TOLERANCE. Remember that? What went wrong? I picked up the paper this morning, and as I read the crime page, I thought, "Oh my, the list of crimes just grows and grows and grows. What used to be an eighth of a page for the list of crimes, now all but needs a page of it's very own. 'Crime' must feel very important here in Canton. It's settled in and made itself right at home.
Ah, then there's the checkbook. The joint account of the taxpayers and the administration. Are the taxpayers really paying attention to their local tax money, or is there focus being diverted by all the 'tea parties'. This reminds me of how when a Black man and a White woman go into a department store, the security will immediately zero in on that Black man, following him around the store, while in the meantime, the White woman loads up her oversized purse with their unpaid for merchandise, and leaves the store unnoticed. This story isn't about color, it just reminds me of the one's that are.
I think they're so busy trying to watch President Obama, and seeing what he's up to, and meanwhile their 3 million dollars+ has turned into a 3 million dollar minus. I hate to see that minus sign on my bank statement. It signifies more than just the fact that I'm overdrawn. It means that I 'goofed'. So, has your mayor 'goofed'? Somebody sure did.
I should have known this wouldn't go smoothly. After all, one of the most staunch Democrats that I know, said, "NO, NO,don't vote for Healy." He went on to say that HE was going to vote for Janet. I couldn't believe my eyes. This is the guy that I stood out in traffic on the freeways in Canton, with signs for Kerry, getting the finger, called all kinds of names, getting spat at, for our Democrat candidate. He was now endorsing a Republican?????????? I could only shake my head. I should have known then.
And for those who might say, "Why do you care, you live in Perry?" I'll say once more, What affects Canton, affects us all.