If you are caught stealing from a neighbor, the police would surely arrest you for theft. Well, that’s basically what has been happening in Sacramento, but so far, no arrests have been made. In fact, the City is not even sure where thousands of “missing” water meters have gone. To date, the bill to ratepayers has hit more than a million dollars however, yet not one person has been held accountable.

According to the Sacramento Bee, (June 26, 2008), “The city of Sacramento cannot currently find or track nearly 4,500 water meters that the city has purchased in recent years at a cost of $1.3 million. On top of that, the city’s Utilities Department has been operating with such lax oversight that it repeatedly entered into no-bid contracts for meter-reading equipment that should have been subject to competitive bidding. And the department allowed employees to pile up six-figure expenditures on city debit cards, without approval from superiors. Among these purchases were a $1,400 plaque for a retired employee, and camcorders and other equipment that now can’t be found.”

Furthermore, the Sacramento Bee states, (June 21, 2008), “The missing meters – purchased as part of a citywide water meter retrofit program for homes and businesses – are believed to be part of a black-market salvage scheme that came to light in a joint police-FBI investigation launched in 2006. As a result of the probe, [the] city auditor began a detailed look at the department more than a year ago…The findings come as the city considers increasing commercial and residential water rates by 3.75 percent.” Outrageous.

The Sacramento Bee earlier said,(May 24, 2008), “Sacramento’s $58 million shortfall for next fiscal year is only the start of the city’s budget woes: The gap between what the city takes in and pays out is forecast to become even wider over the next five years, requiring cumulative cuts of about $200 million, according to city officials.”

These articles expose illegal activities, possibly by city workers, and raise serious concerns about the integrity of city officials responsible for spending taxpayer money. Taxpayers deserve better than this – they need to know that their hard-earned dollars are spent wisely and not going down the drain.

Clearly, Sacramento’s Department of Utilities is in a sad state of affairs and is in need of serious reorganization from top to bottom.  It is no small wonder taxpayers are fed-up with this all too common scenario in which government workers abuse tax dollars, spend money without accountability and then raise taxes to cover budget shortfalls. Taxpayers shouldn’t foot the bill for the City of Sacramento’s blunders.

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