It is my experience that facts, for the Augusta County voter, come second to personal identification when choosing their leaders. How else to explain eight years of continuing overtaxing and wasteful spending when deciding only Republican candidates need run for office?
On overtaxing and frittering away the ill-gotten gain, I have tried to make people aware, but I can’t make them care.
Five years ago, the Board of Supervisors said funding alone was stopping the gain of law enforcement body cameras. I was in attendance, knew better, so went before the Board to share that the last budget audit revealed a $24 million surplus.
For that civic involvement I was called “Pinocchio” and said to be “lying through my teeth” by “sleepy” Gerald Garber (thought I’d try being presidential). But his not knowing what the audit reveals is not new. The Audit is truth; my experience is the Republicans rely more on what they tell each other than what the math concludes.
The annual Comprehensive Audit is not held as important as the annual budget. It is distributed at a December meeting; the Board is told all is well and they move on.
Which is a shame. The budget is a politician’s promise of good to come but served with earnest words of careful craftmanship (four hours of review), yet needing a little, unavoidable, tax boost.
The Audit, in contrast, is the Board’s report card on the budget making and financial truths. The Board expresses pride in not only meeting all spending plans but in having handsome surpluses to boot.
Many taxpayers will not feel as good. Their own personal needs may not have been met, and surplus money is only a dream that seldom comes true.
From the Audit, published by paid third party accountants, I have pulled revealing numbers for columns like this and campaign literature.
I have shared our unbudgeted surpluses have risen from $37 million in 2018 to $98 million in 2024. That we sustained a rise of 57% in property taxes from 2018, my last budget, to 2025: $60,545,183 actual to $95,281,113 projected.
But I cannot tell you where the budget surplus stood on June 30, 2025, or what the actual rise in property taxes proved to be because the mandated FY2025 Audit has not been finished. Which is a rolling failing of our Board of Supervisors.
I have included four Augusta County documents for your review.
The first two were contained in the FY2024 Audit.
- On page 211, Section I. Summary of Auditor’s Results:
Internal control over financial reporting:
Significant deficiency(ies) identified? X Yes - On page 213 is the Corrective Action Plan:
There the auditors reveal their “findings,” the corrective action taken or planned, and the responsible person as Misty Cook, Director of Finance.
The other two offers come from the county website instead of the state-mandated FY2025 Audit.
- On Dec. 15, 2025, under heading “Delay of Audit Notice to the Public,” it is noted that Section 15.2-2510 of the Code of Virginia “requires” localities to submit there…. audited Annual Financial Reports … by December 15th. Instead of required compliance the County advised they would submit in February 2026. It is unsigned, no staffer willing to affix their name to failure.
- The final attachment is from Feb. 25, 2026. Same song, different verse. The February time frame was going to be missed, cross your fingers for March.
This is an embarrassment. The Comparative Financial Audit prepared by the state is an important document. It is received and used by all localities as a measure of relative efficacy by category.
And, sadly, the report will repeatedly shame a delinquent locality as it consistently notes absences.
It never happened when Pat Coffield was our County Administrator, and Joe Davis our Director of Finance. It never happened if there was at least one Democrat on the Board watching the till.
In the campaign, I pointed out this delay from the year before and that the top three associated staffers had combined earnings of nearly a half-million dollars annually. I pointed out how costly it was for taxpayers when these folks regularly underestimated revenues resulting in higher taxes.
I had used the FY2024 audit to show, in black and white, that the well paid triumphant of Finance Director Misty Cook, Assistant County Administrator Jennifer Whetzel and County Administrator Timmy Fitzgerald, collectively missed the expected revenue mark by over $19 million: $106,348,614 projected, $125,360,065 actual.
In real life, these folks would be seeking new opportunities. Every year as Corporate Purchasing Manager, I had to advise the ASR finance department how much the cost of materials would rise. From that our price structure for products was formed. Had I missed any year by even half of 19%, I would have been relieved of my job.
In private enterprise, where failure means people losing income and jobs, there is very little accommodation for poor performance. But in our Republican government failure is simply met with a need for more people, not better ones.
Republicans in Verona and Washington are bad at budgets, but they soothe the itching ears of the unaware.
Support AFP
Share
