CARES money unaccounted for

 I have been working to get some transparency in out Village finances. The emails below show my inquiries, along with Mr. Jaeger's efforts, looking into $102,000 that is not accounted for. This inquiry was sent almost a year ago.

  It should have appeared somewhere in the Public Safety fund total, then as a surplus at the end of the year to be rolled over to the following year's budget.  The lack of cooperation and vague answers that I and others have experienced raises red flags for me.

    I'd like to see a paper trail for exactly where this money goes, and how these funds are moved around. I plan on continuing to work toward putting a policy or ordinance in place  to assure  transparency in this area.

   The "VB packet referred to below can be found here https://www.kronenwetter.org/meeting_repository/village_board.php#

   The email format did not exactly translate too well to the blog format, but the information is there.   As usual with email threads, in order to follow the exchange, they must be read starting at the bottom, working your way up. 

Thanks!

Ken Charneski


On Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 8:47 PM Ken Charneski <kcharneski@kronenwetter.org> wrote:

   I am looking at Dec 22,2020 VB packet page 20. It shows $142,714 in Covid aid to the general fund. This does not match the $140,734.30 mentioned in the letter below. Scrolling down lower on page 20, the explanation says "Includes the amount from the WEC Cares Sub Grant for elections and the amount specifically allocated to" and it cuts off like that.
   So I'm not sure it is the same money. It could be, but the numbers don't add up.  On page 22 it shows almost $16K in added election expenses. The letter below does not mention any election costs coming out of that money, so they may be two separate payments. The one in the budget amendment says it is a "Sub Grant".
   Going to the Dec 2020 treas report in the Feb 23 2021 packet page 110, it says salaries and wages - elections  are only $136.00 over budget for the year. I see that is because they amended it with the $4528 mentioned in the budget amendment.
I think for one thing, these treasurer reports should have an added column with the amended budgeted amount. So we can see the original budget amount, YTD spent, amended budget amount, to keep better track of spending. Or change the color of all amended items. Because if they do budget amendments the way they are supposed to, that budget number will change accordingly and it will be harder to see where excess spending is taking place.

   I can't tell where that money went for sure either, but it didn't go to public safety like she said in the letter. Because the police get paid out of the Public Safety fund, and the Dec 31 2020 budget amount is $1,267,501.00, which is $2,170.00 LESS than the Nov 30 2020 budgeted amount 1,269,671.00 due to the budget amendment. It should have been $102K more.
   So that $102K did not show up in the Public Safety account like it was supposed to, and it didn't go to the general fund because if it was included in that $142,714 of Covid money that went to the general fund, then there should be a debit of $102K showing that it went to the Public Safety fund. Correct?
    Or am I understanding this wrong?

From: L P Jaeger 
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2022 3:05 PM
To: Roger Habeck <rhabeck@kronenwetter.org>; Christopher Eiden <ceiden@kronenwetter.org>; Richard Downey <rdowney@kronenwetter.org>; Ken Charneski <kcharneski@kronenwetter.org>
Subject: Fwd: Fw: CARES money payment
 
I can't find it. Under misc revenue on page 16 of 427 of Dec packet I see $107,332 year end.
Page 22 of 427 shows fire dept expenses of $111,252.50, $19,518.50 under budget. None of the other funds shows an amount of $102,000.
  As long as I'm at it, I am repeating my request for an explanation of salaries and wages administrator lines 110, 110-111, 130, 131, 132, page19.


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Ken Charneski <kcharneski@kronenwetter.org>
Date: Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 7:30 AM
Subject: Fw: CARES money payment
To: L P Jaeger


I ran across this email and never got an answer.. Can you find this $102K surplus in the Dec 31 report?
From: Ken Charneski <kcharneski@kronenwetter.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2021 12:27 PM
To: Alicia Richmond <arichmond@kronenwetter.org>
Subject: Re: CARES money payment
 
So we got $140K, spent $38K, and $102K went to police, fire and ems wages. Do those departments now show this money as a current surplus?
Thanks,
Ken Charneski

From: Alicia Richmond
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2021 7:42 AM
To: Richard Downey <rdowney@kronenwetter.org>
Subject: RE: CARES money payment

 

Richard,

In 2020 we received $140,734.30. We received additional funds from the State after because we submitted more than our original allocation amount of $127,231.

We spend the funds on the following items:

 

Courier Box for absentee voting submissions. Amount after WEC Submission

                         744.42

Face Masks for Elections - Left over amount after WEC submission

                            65.00

Disinfectant Wipes - public areas, office and election

                         262.82

2 HP SB 600 G$ Laptops for telework - employees working from home

                      1,640.00

2 MS SLD Microsoft Office  for new laptops - employees working from home

                         529.68

Table top cleaner/disinfectant - public areas, elections, office

                            72.97

Lysol Wipes - police department

                            15.09

20 N95 Masks - police department

                         144.99

N95 Masks - police department

                            80.97

Supplies to build plexiglass shield for Police Department lobby

                            11.90

Spray Trigger for disinfectant

                              5.01

Disinfecting tablets - public works

                         337.60

Postage for Community Development Director while working from home

                            23.30

Face Masks for Staff after mask mandate.

                         107.10

Ipads with camera for Village Board Trustees for virtual meetings

                      2,632.00

Jabra Talk headsets for Village Board Trustees - Virtual meetings

                         372.00

Sneeze Guard polycarbon for front office & police department

                      1,054.94

Painters tape for floor to indicate social distance for public areas

                              7.37

Hand sanitizer for public areas

                            25.83

2 Hand sanitizer stand for election areas

                         259.98

10 Touch Free Sanitizing dispensers for municipal center

                         999.23

Gel Hand sanitizer 4 gallons x 2

                         239.98

Batteries for sanitizing dispensers

                            59.35

 

3 Head Sets                                                                                                                                  61.20

Amazon iPad Cases(8)                                                                                                           127.84

Amazon-Cell Phone Stands(9)                                                                                              125.21

5 HP Computers w/ MS SLD+ Office Laptops                                                                   5,625.40

HP 30 GB Internal Hard Drive Shipping                                                                               338.60

3 Epson Scanners                                                                                                                       421.91

Ethernet Patch Cable                                                                                                                 50.00

Data Cable Seifert Electric                                                                                                        2,000.00

Disinfecting Wipes 200 ct                                                                                                         16.98

Disinfectant Wipes (12)                                                                                                            237.68

Dirks Group Install and Configuration of Server                                                              19,465.27

 

At the 9/22/2020 the board approved spending funds on board room updates ($5,000), Badger Books ($12,648), and the wireless point extensions ($6,000), as well as laptops which were purchased. We later found out that we can claim the public safety wages to receive the full allocated amount, which we did and that was considered a reimbursement.

 

We spent a total of $38,161.62 on pandemic related supplies, the rest went to cover the public safety wages.

 

Let me know if you need additional info.

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