July 06, 2011 - During Michael Klund's failed campaign to unseat Mehlville Fire Protection District Board of Directors Chairman Aaron Hilmer in the April election, Klund leveled many allegations of fiscal mismanagement against Hilmer and the board.
Klund nearly won the election, solely because of the nearly $100,000 he and his supporters spent on his behalf. Of the nearly $100,000 that was spent on Klund's campaign, Mehlville Local 1889 of the International Association of Fire Fighters contributed roughly $78,500.
A great deal of the money spent on Klund's behalf went to mailers and advertising in which Klund took aim at the board's "wasteful spending,'' particularly citing the board's decision to construct new firehouses on a pay-as-you-go basis by using current revenue and reserves to avoid incurring long-term debt.
In fact, Klund contended in response to a Call questionnaire that the district's reserves had been "depleted.''
"... The reserves have been depleted in the building of these firehouses and the old ones were functioning well anyway ...,'' he stated.
But the reserves are not depleted, according to the district's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
The report states the general fund had an unreserved fund balance of roughly $15.5 million or 129 percent of general fund expenditures while the ambulance fund had an unreserved fund balance of more than $7 million or 150 percent of ambulance fund expenditures.
Voters approved the consolidation of the two funds in April.
Furthermore, Robert Offerman of Hochschild, Bloom & Co., who presented the report to the board last week, said the district is in sound financial shape and continues to increase the services it offers residents.
During his campaign, Klund also espoused the inane notion that ambulance billing, which had been approved in 2002 by a previous board, was "double taxation'' and should be eliminated.
Eliminating ambulance billing, Hilmer said after the election, would have resulted in such a revenue shortfall that the board would need to ask voters to approve a tax-rate increase of roughly 10 cents.
Mehlville residents should breathe a sigh of relief that Klund was not elected to the Board of Directors.
While Klund advocated fiscal responsibility in his misleading campaign for the board, it's now apparent that he was the candidate for fiscal irresponsibility.
Mike Klund, lap dog for Nick Fahs & Local 1889 is once again proven a liar and a complete fraud. His campaign of lies almost worked, but it will never work again. The public have wised up about Local 1889's $100,000 ramrod political exploits during last April's election.
ReplyDeleteKlund told the Mehlville Patch that he would continue to be a "watchdog" for the taxpayers. Impossible! How can a lap dog for the greedy firefighter's union be a watchdog for the citizens? Klund is finished. I hope he tries to run again. He's a proven liar and would be very easy to defeat.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the fire fighters should rethink belonging to a union that has the fiduciary incompetence of local 1889. Think about it $100,000 of their dues money to a failed election.
ReplyDeleteLocal 1889 don't even KNOW what their bosses spend on campaigns or themselves. It's a secret that only Nick Fahs and his deputy bosses know. That's democratic unionism?
ReplyDelete