City elders soaking taxpayers
HARDIN CO.—It appears taxpayers in the tiny county of Hardin are being assessed financial penalties none of their elected officials are bothering to tell them about, much less address themselves seeing how they are the reason for the assessment of said penalties in the first place.
The issue actually began sometime ago and has been kept under wraps for nearly six years.
Sources close to the story tell Disclosure that in the year 2006 city workers entered into a contract with the elected town elders amounting to a 5 percent pay increase, compounded annually.
It appears the city elders never held up their part of the contract and kept plodding into the future, one election season after another, just ignoring the contractual agreement all together.
As the years passed and penalties mounted, city elected officials still never formally addressed the issue in a public meeting nor bothered to inform the taxpayers, who would ultimately foot the bill once the electorate was done padding their own pockets with pet projects and hiring every member of their family they could get away with.
Now, however, it seems the bill has come due and instead of “manning up” to their responsibilities, city elders are continuing to stall.
Sources indicate that more than 90 days ago the city was ordered by state officials to pay what they owe the two workers within 30 days or face additional assessed penalties.
The elders in their infinite wisdom have not shelled out a dime on the arrearages, much less address the issue of mounting fines from the state, and instead are claiming they have been in search of a CPA all this time so they can make sure the two employees involved in the back-pay issue are paid the proper amount.
“If Burtis Cook (acting Elizabethtown mayor) and the council can’t figure out how much to pay two guys they have been screwing out of money for years they shouldn’t be in elected positions,” said one critic. “I am not sure ol’ Burtis is the most honest guy in town anyway. He sure come by the house he lives in under some curious circumstances.”
Once source says the council has been saying they are going to pay the two workers all their back pay, but just can’t put a date on exactly when the two will see their money.
There is also no indication whether or not the settlement includes the back pay for the unfulfilled promise of a $500 annual Christmas bonus the pair only saw once.
After a brief check in local directories it appears certified public accountants may not be standing on street corners in Elizabethtown like ladies of the night, but they are not that difficult to find either.
Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=12847
Posted by Jack Howser
on May 17 2012. Filed under Hardin.
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…he workers should be paid immediately, and the amount owed them should include interest for the time it’s been withheld and be grossed up for tax purposes…I bet they know how much they are owed, but if not, there’s a bean countin’ lawyer around somewhere who can figure it out for them…as to additional penalties, the pay of the city elders should be diverted to cover those…
Wonder why pay is being withheld? Could it be these said workers might not really know the meaning of “work”?
I think that however Mayor Bertis Cook, (notice the correct spelling), inherited his home is no one’s business.
Are the employees not in a union? If not, did they have to go to the labor board to try and get money owed? If the workers and city or county officials did sign a binding contract in 2006 it should read what percentage their pay will increase and what date on each year of the contract they would receive said raise.Are they still working under the 2006 contract? A six year contract is a rare thing today.Pay the workers what they are owed and move on.As for the christmas money,that may be lost if it is a bonus and not in the contract.Especially if they vote on the bonus yearly. I do not know the workers,but they must know the meaning of the word work as they have been doing their job,just not getting the pay owed.I bet they will,with interest.When the labor board says pay them money owed,how the Mayor got his home wont even matter.Good luck to the workers,and we will watch Disclosure on your progress.
Clearly, you don’t know these workers.
I believe it’s a more apt statement to say that most people don’t know who ALL has been promised WHAT under similar circumstances…nor just how wasteful taxpayer dollars have been spent in Hardin by the powers-that-be.
But the day is coming—and probably soon—wherein everybody is going to find out.