Like all Missouri cities, Cuba’s financial statements must be audited every year. Audited statements are needed to obtain loans, issue bonds, and apply for grants.
If loans, bonds, and grants sound familiar, you may have been listening to the mayor. He is going to get a big grant to build a big pavilion in Tangle Creek Park. He is going to get a multi-million-dollar loan to finance the McBride project. He is looking into bonds as another option for financing.
He does not tell you Cuba can't get loans, bonds, and grants without up-to-date audited financial statements. He does not tell you our last completed audit was for June 30, 2023…a year that ended nearly three years ago. He does not tell you his administration can’t seem to complete the June 30, 2024 financial statements…a year that ended nearly two years ago…even though they have supposedly been working on them at least since last August.
He does not tell you about the secrecy surrounding the June 30, 2024 audit. Frequent questions bring vague answers…working on them, not quite there, need a little more time, etc. They said the audit would be finished in December…didn’t happen; then January…didn’t happen.
Most concerning is their response to my Sunshine Law request submitted March 18. It should have been quick and easy, only requiring them to hand over a few already existing documents. I asked to see the auditor’s requests for information and our comptroller’s responses to those requests.
Producing existing documents apparently is neither quick nor easy. After three days, they needed more time. And, because the comptroller is on vacation, I would get no response for at least another week.
Experience with politicians at all levels of government teaches when they repeatedly give vague answers to specific questions, when financial statements aren’t completed, when documents aren’t readily available…something is rotten in Denmark.
So, I challenge the mayor to hand over the documents I requested now, as they exist now, with no additional delays.
More importantly, I challenge the mayor to explain why we don’t have an audit yet for June 30, 2024.
Jackie Hunt
Cuba
