Uh-Oh, No ‘Significant’ Deficiencies Found In City Audit

It’s always interesting how city officials look for things to announce, that with a little spin, make it look like everything is honky-dory within the inky shadows of city hall corridors.

It happened at the beginning of last Tuesday night’s Naperville city council meeting, when councilman John Krummen had a sort-of-good news announcement that he was very proud to make.

Watch and listen as Krummen eagerly revs up his enthusiasm with his announcement:

On the surface, I guess this is cool. I mean, wow, no ‘significant’ deficiencies were found when the ‘city’ auditor met with the financial advisory board. However, when you think about it, what is meant by ‘significant’? If there were no deficiencies found, wouldn’t they say that, rather than inserting the word ‘significant’?

Move on folks, there’s nothing significant to see here with the audit.

When it comes to Naperville city officials, and the millions of tax dollars they are tossing around, what do they consider as a reasonable deficiency. Is it hundreds or thousands of unaccountable dollars, or are they talking about hundreds of thousands or even a million here or there as a ‘significant’ deficiency.

It’s possible that what city officials see as an acceptable deficiency and what taxpayers see as a worrisome deficiency are the same thing; wasted unaccountable dollars.

It’s rather doubtful that if any council member had any level of ‘deficiency’ in their personal business, be it a book or floor covering business, or real estate, plumbing, or legal business, they wouldn’t be congratulating their co-workers or employees with an ovation. Chances are they would be focusing on eliminating or at least addressing those deficiencies.

Since councilman Krummen considered his announcement as a reason for celebration, we can only imagine what other possible announcements might be coming soon by city officials including:

• Investigations verified that during the last ten years, no council member has been accused of allegedly assaulting a Naperville police officer….oops I mean five years.
• A report confirms that not one single council member was arrested for shoplifting within four miles of the municipal center.
• We are happy to announce that council members shovel their walkways ….usually.
• We are proud to announce that not one city official has purchased anything on line, except maybe some plastic forks, a book, or enough lumber to build a house.
• An audit conducted by city officials confirmed that city officials don’t pad their expense accounts. The audit was verified by city officials who were audited.
• A study has determined that not one taxpayer dollar has been wasted on all the city electric-charging stations for electric vehicles that don’t seem to exist.
• An investigation confirms that of all the municipal recycling centers in the country, the City of Naperville has one of them.
• A time-study audit has determined that Naperville city officials really enjoy doing time-study audits.
• A report recently released confirms that former councilman Grant Wehrli’s presence in Springfield has made absolutely no difference about anything.

There are 412 days remaining until the next Naperville city council election. That’s plenty of time for many more ‘significant’ announcements.