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<body w3c="http://visualvision.com/w3c-validation.htm" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#FF0000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <base target="_top"/> <div align="center" class="s0" style="margin-left: 9mm;margin-right: 0mm;"> <font style="font-family:'Georgia';font-size:61pt;"><b>Pickens Politics </b></font></div> <div align="right" class="s0" style="text-align: right;margin-left: 9mm;margin-right: 2mm;"> <font style="font-family:'Cooper Black';font-size:48pt;"><b></b></font><font style="color:#FF0000;font-size:13pt;"><b>www.PickensPolitics.com </b></font></div> <div align="center" class="s88" style="text-align: center;margin-left: 9mm;margin-right: 2mm;"> <font style="color:#FF0000;font-family:'Cooper Black';font-size:13pt;">   </font><font style="color:#FF0000;font-family:'Cooper Black';font-size:12pt;">   </font><font style="font-family:'Cooper Black';font-size:12pt;"><a class="s88" href="alex_000001.htm">W</font><font style="font-size:12pt;">rite-ups</a>    <a class="s88" href="alex_000006.htm">Videos</a>    <a class="s88" href="alex_000004.htm">About Us</a> </font></div> <div align="center" class="s1540" style="text-align: center;">  </div> <div align="center" class="s1540" style="text-align: center;"> <font style="font-size:13pt;"><b>Waste, Fraud and Abuse? </b></font></div> <div align="center" class="s1540" style="text-align: center;"> By Alex Saitta </div> <div align="center" class="s1540" style="text-align: center;"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">April 28, 2025 </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"></font><font style="font-size:11pt;"><b>Introduction: </b></font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">We all have been watching the national news and the deficit cutting efforts of Elon Musk. It made me think about what these terms like fraud or waste actually mean.  </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">Waste: To me, this is spending money and getting no or little value/ added value in return. In about 2014, when the school district administration spent $22,000 for the LED sign in the front of the district office, I called that a waste of money, because it displays the date, time and temperature and I didn’t see the added value there.  </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">Excess: This occurs when a need expands into a want. For example, the new 911 Call Center for the county was needed and some training, conference or break rooms were too, however 3 break rooms, 4 training rooms (one 1,250 feet) and 6 conference rooms (one 600 sqf) is excessive.   </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">Low Priority Spending: I was asked last month how I felt about building a new county animal shelter? The current shelter is 7 years old and a nice facility. I replied it was a lower priority relative to things like building a new EMS station. The last EMS station was built 13 years ago and call volume is up 22% since then.  </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">Fraud: If someone died and is still getting a social security direct deposit to their account, that is a mistake. If a relative added their name to that account and is drawing out the money, that is fraud. </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">Corruption: A politician accepting illegal payments or kickbacks.  </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">Abuse: The media buzz words these days are waste, fraud and abuse, but I’m not sure what abuse is. I’m guessing it is what occurs in a system where all of the above occurs regularly.   </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"></font><font style="font-size:11pt;"><b>Locally: </b></font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">Wasteful, excessive and low priority spending occurs at all levels of government. This is what you have to watch out for mostly at the local level. I do remember an instance with a PTA, where someone was caught stealing money, but such fraudulent activity is rare at the local level around here. Generally speaking, fraud and corruption occurs at higher levels of government.  </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"></font><font style="font-size:11pt;"><b>Weak Link: </b></font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">The weakest link in the system is most elected officials do not have the desire or skillset to uncover just how much money is being spent and on what. They vote for the budget, but if you gave them a test on the 100-some-odd-page document, most would fail. Those that have the desire/ skillset may lack a backbone to stand up, often stand alone and show the public what they’ve uncovered. Bringing wasteful, excessive and low priority spending to light embarrasses elected leaders, prodding them to improve their game. That is a good thing and I wish our media at all levels would do that regularly.  </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"></font><font style="font-size:11pt;"><b>Transactions Vs. Statements: </b></font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">Keep in mind, financial reports are only summaries. You can uncover some things, for example in January I wrote at length about the out of control school board borrowing that occurs each year in Pickens County.  </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;"> </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540"> <font style="font-size:11pt;">However, the details are in the line by line transactions and that is what Musk is looking at , and what we did in 2011 when I became chairman of the school board. We requested the credit card statements and check registers of key departments. Lunches, too much support staff, excessive travel and expensive LED signs were all brought to light. Focusing on limiting the low priorities, excess and waste does pay off.  When I was on the school board from 2004 to 2016, average annual spending grew 3.5% a year. The 8 years since I was gone, annual spending growth at the school district is 7%. </font></div> <div align="justify" class="s1540">  </div> <div align="center" class="s0"> <a class="s0" href="index.htm">Home</a>   <a class="s0" href="alex_000001.htm">Write-ups</a>   <a class="s0" href="alex_000006.htm">Videos</a>    <a class="s0" href="alex_000004.htm">About Us</a> </div>