LAUDERDALE LAKES --

Hey everyone! It’s your favorite traitor here Chaz Stevens checking in… How ya’all doing?

As most of you already know, elected folks* over in Lauderdale Lakes, in response to our reporting of their fiscal nonsense, have accused MAOS and our sources of being “treasonous”.

Read: High Treason? WTF were they thinking? Hint: they weren’t.

Now, as a public service to my readers, I thought it best to take a moment and offer up a few mutinous statements of ours. That is, just in case you wondering what it takes to be a modern day Benedict Arnold.

Such as it were that is.

Treasonous Statement #1:
We pointed out that City owed the County $4.2M as of 9/30/2010

Treasonous Statement #2:
Oh, and let us not forget the $1.4M in Special Assessment and $1.7M in CRA cashola. Cashola… rhymes with asshola.

Treasonous Statement #3:
We were audacious in pointing out the 9/30/11 debt to the County which stood at $9.2M, the CRA loan/debt/IOU/theft of $2.5M, the fact that the City did not pay BSO at the end of FY11, and the FY12 budget did not include any repayment of special assessment cash.

Treasonous Statement #4:
Our rudeness continued when we noted contracting problems with that lease/buyback/hosing arrangements. Not to mention it was a suck-ass deal (borrowed $10.5M, only got $8M with the consultant and contractor set to make a whopping $2.5m).

Treasonous Statement #5:
The City’s first quarter FY12 financial report to BC was flat out wrong- first said they had $1.2M in the General Fund that magically grew to $2.7M. MAOS believes that fund to be busted broke.

Treasonous Statement #6:
Our favorite bit of mutiny was when we pointed out the City indicated 2012 property tax collection of 98% collected, when only 77% was collected.

And finally…

Treasonous Statement #6:
In the Feb 2012 cash flow analysis provided to the County, the General Fund showed $600,000 in cash… We took treasonous exception to the fact as moneys were consistently overstated.

* Elected officials including those with a twenty … er … ten … er … two-year military career. Which, for the record, is exactly 1/2 of my brother’s four year stint, I mean career, in the high school NJROTC program.