City of Kennesaw 2014 Budget – Cracking the Code and Open Record Requests

Good afternoon.  The 2014 City of Kennesaw Budget is now posted on the City of Kennesaw website, you can obtain your copy by following this link  http://www.kennesaw-ga.gov/form-center/category/40-current-agenda.  Yeah, it was hard to find, but it is there.  It’s 246 pages, but if you have Adobe (full version) you can delete a lot of pages and “slim” it down a bit.  According to the Resolution that goes along with this document, there are still Public Hearings to be done on September 16, 2013, which is this Monday for the “calendarium-challenged” in the audience.

Look specifically at pages 18 through 86 with a stop at page 56, the City of Kennesaw Organization Chart.  It is helpful if you line-up the various department numbers from the financial budget with the Chart so you have a cross-reference each time you look at the numbers…sort of helps “fry” them into your cranium.

CRACKING THE CODE OF THE BUDGET

Now, let us take the Mayor Council, Department 1100 for a moment, page 24 for those following along with the home edition of Wake Up Kennesaw.  Note that each line item has an Account Number and with a little study you can figure out what is what…okay let’s go on a most excellent adventure.

Referring to page 24, find the line item with the following code 100.1100.52.350000.00000. Almost looks like an internet address, but it’s better than that…it’s how you can efficiently request information from the City with an Open Record Request (form is available on the City’s website).

Let’s diagram it out (we hated diagramming sentences in school!). 

100– We’ve determined that this just signifies that these numbers flow to the general expenses and P&L for the City….nothing here to see.

1100 – That identifies the department for the Expenses…in this case the Mayor Council department.

52 – That particular code must be for a general expense related to the department for their employees because it appears in that spot for other departments as well.  So you will see “52” in that position for Travel, Portable Phones, etc… in every other department’s line item budget.

35000 – The code sub-categorizes the expense.  In this case 52.35000 is Travel expense.  How do we know?  It shows up the same way on every other department that has a Travel expense listed.

00000 – Just some placeholders there that are probably used internally, but don’t forget to include it in your Open Records Request

Open Records Request

The reason knowing what to ask for is so important is because the City charges you money for the request.  Pursuant to O.C.G.A. §50-1 8-70 et seq., you can formally request to inspect certain public records, so you need to be very precise on what you want to look at.  On the form from the City they have a Record Retrieval Fee they will charge you.  So if you know the exact line item of the budget, chances are the City has a code assigned to each person or persons that generated the purchase order for the expense.

Want to know what Mayor Matthews or any of the Council people charged for the annual convention to Savannah this year?  You should be able to file an open request and ask to see the travel records for that particular individual under account number 100.1100.52.350000.00000. 

Final note:  You have one final chance as a Citizen of Kennesaw to have your voice heard about the budget.  Heck we didn’t even get into the $500,000 the City is committing to the Museum for 2014…or how much more money Sanitation is making now that they’ve been stripped of personnel and machines. 

Want to know how much Republic will charge for the new services?  Find page 48 of the Budget, Other Professional Services, and you’ll see a number of $1,174,320.  Assuming we have 8,400 households in the City and that works out to $11.65 per household, per month.  The City has been charging roughly $24 per household, per month. 

Net/Net it looks like the City will save about $500,000 on the outsourced services.  Look at page 22 of the CAFR (http://www.kennesaw-ga.gov/form-center/category/14-financial-reports) and find the Total Operating Expenses line item of $1,648,179.  Now go to page 48 of the 2014 Budget and find Other Professional Services line item of $1,174,320.  For our money I would have kept Sanitation in place and dumped the Museum onto a private company.

Wake Up Kennesaw.