The school district displays its monthly expenses on a table at every school board meeting. Anyone is free to photograph it. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Jan Klein does an exemplary job with the books. What I am saying is that the municipality needs to be more transparent with the monthly expenditure lists.
Monthly expenditure lists are only available after the commissioners approve the expenses. A resident cannot comment on the expenses before they are approved by the commissioners which are done at the end of commission meetings.
What the municipality can do, but chooses not to, is publish them on their new Open Lebo website https://mtlebanonpa.opengov.com/transparency#/.
If the Municipality would be more transparent, would they have approved Susan Morgans' trip next month to NYC? Mrs. Morgans Goes To The Big Apple Will we get to read about her visit at the very classy hair salon in Manhattan again this year? We already learned about her trip to Napa Valley. There's two days she can write off as an unreimbursed business expense.
It is my hope that the monthly expenditure lists become public information without filing RTKs. Utilize Open Lebo. And two, the commissioners actually start looking at these expenses that they approve every month. We know that Dave Brumfield doesn't read them and Mr. "Fiscally Responsible" McLean just glances at them. I don't know about the others. Does Mr. "It's Free" Silverman look at them or does he just like to take widows and Scott Township to court because it's free?
How about publishing the monthly expenditure lists? Let's use Open Lebo more. Transparency would be nice.
3 comments:
Seems like a lot of money paid to lawyers and cell phones
Lawyer fees are a fixed cost, Steve Silverman will tell you. They haven't increased for several years. That is why they litigate so much - it's free. Such a deal. What he doesn't take into account is the amount of time our police force spends off the streets and in the court rooms, or what third parties (vendors/contractors/engineers) charge MTL taxpayers for court costs or delays.
I think that they need to change cell phone plans. Taxpayers are paying too much for cell phones.
Elaine
They need to change the cell phone policy...period. They are used for both personal and municipal use but I'm pretty sure the taxpayers pick up 100% of the tab. Many communities give an allowance/stipend to offset the costs. We're just not that smart.
Nick M.
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