Letter: Town must prove proper management of tax dollars

I attended a Hilton Head Island Town Council meeting last November, when the main issue was signing a contract with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce and consideration of a chamber audit.

In the six minutes I was given to speak, I pleaded for an audit. In my 40 years of managing full-service advertising agencies, I wrote at least 50 contracts outlining the client-agency working relationship. Always, there was wording allowing the client (with proper notice) to audit our working expenditures.

The agency was obligated to maintain files of expenditures on any given project to show it was within budget guidelines. Usually, we held quarterly meetings to update the client. An “audit” does not mean a suspicion of sloppy bookkeeping. It is a measure to confirm that proper management practices are in place.

I left the Town Council meeting a bit bewildered. I couldn’t believe the tone of that session. Led by Bill Harkins, the meeting was obviously choreographed to seek an approval of the contract and strongly resist an audit. Why?

Later, it hit me. Mayor David Bennett and the council have a fiduciary responsibility to oversee the taxpayers’ money. Just suppose a transparent, professional audit was conducted. Suppose the audit found that all traceable expenditures were under or over the approved budgets? There would be political mud and blood all over a number of people. Just a thought.

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Letter: Town must prove proper management of tax dollars."