Stephanie
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2004
- 70,230
- 10,864
- 2,040
this should make us ALL sick. But talk about REFORMING or cutting down these MONSTERS in these governments and you (or I should say, Republicans by these snakes in the Democrat party) are accused of not caring about : the poor. you little people suffer while they live high off the TAYPAYER HOG. and this is ONE STATE and guess which party runs it? this might give you a hint:
snip;
Living large on the public dime
CAIRO – Hundreds of people here rely on public housing for shelter, with the average income among Alexander County Housing Authority residents just $8,655 a year, the majority of them raising children and nearly half as single mothers. More than half of the county’s children live in poverty, and nearly a third are considered food insecure – meaning they don’t always know from where their next meal is coming.
But some of those who were charged with overseeing the shelter upon which many of them rely, lived large, records show, traveling extensively to conferences in destination cities, drinking on the authority’s dime, shelling out hundreds of dollars for steak, salmon, shrimp cocktails, sorbet and other multi-course meals, sometimes paying nearly $100 per person at fine-dining establishments.
Meanwhile, the public housing developments that provide shelter in the state’s poorest county have deteriorated into abysmal conditions, besieged by infestation and violent crime. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, following a review of its finances, listed the housing authority’s status as “troubled.”
As an example, receipts from the numerous trips include a $100 bill on Dec. 14, 2012, at La Salsa Cantina in Las Vegas, that is almost entirely alcohol purchases. Drinks bought using the authority’s credit cards, include a frozen margarita ($8.95); a frozen strawberry margarita ($9.50); and two cocktails called JamaicaMe Crazy ($19.90), which is a mixed drink that one website describes as tasting like strawberry-banana Starbursts, only better.
Click here to view a sampling of receipts showing extensive travel, fine dining and purchase of holiday gifts for employees and board members.
This and other drink and dinner tabs, as well as lodging and airfare for some trips, appear, based on an extensive review of records, to be paid for using the authority’s line of credit even as participants also received an “expense” voucher cut before their trips.
These vouchers are based on accounting that includes -- as part of the calculation -- reimbursement for mileage to far-off destinations, as if a personal vehicle was taken, even though participants flew in most cases. The vouchers also appear duplicative in nature – as in, it seems as though the authority provided “reimbursements” for at least some expenses also pre-paid or funded on location using the authority’s line of credit, such as for transportation, lodging and some meals.
December 2012 Las Vegas example
ALL of it here:
Living large on the public dime : News
![5554183eafbeb.preview-100.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fbloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com%2Fthesouthern.com%2Fcontent%2Ftncms%2Fassets%2Fv3%2Feditorial%2F9%2F8c%2F98c8c03b-a8c7-5046-aa8b-dd48837b8a19%2F5554183eafbeb.preview-100.jpg&hash=22dbf284a69413d88b3ca816020f74df)
snip;
Living large on the public dime
CAIRO – Hundreds of people here rely on public housing for shelter, with the average income among Alexander County Housing Authority residents just $8,655 a year, the majority of them raising children and nearly half as single mothers. More than half of the county’s children live in poverty, and nearly a third are considered food insecure – meaning they don’t always know from where their next meal is coming.
But some of those who were charged with overseeing the shelter upon which many of them rely, lived large, records show, traveling extensively to conferences in destination cities, drinking on the authority’s dime, shelling out hundreds of dollars for steak, salmon, shrimp cocktails, sorbet and other multi-course meals, sometimes paying nearly $100 per person at fine-dining establishments.
Meanwhile, the public housing developments that provide shelter in the state’s poorest county have deteriorated into abysmal conditions, besieged by infestation and violent crime. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, following a review of its finances, listed the housing authority’s status as “troubled.”
As an example, receipts from the numerous trips include a $100 bill on Dec. 14, 2012, at La Salsa Cantina in Las Vegas, that is almost entirely alcohol purchases. Drinks bought using the authority’s credit cards, include a frozen margarita ($8.95); a frozen strawberry margarita ($9.50); and two cocktails called JamaicaMe Crazy ($19.90), which is a mixed drink that one website describes as tasting like strawberry-banana Starbursts, only better.
Click here to view a sampling of receipts showing extensive travel, fine dining and purchase of holiday gifts for employees and board members.
This and other drink and dinner tabs, as well as lodging and airfare for some trips, appear, based on an extensive review of records, to be paid for using the authority’s line of credit even as participants also received an “expense” voucher cut before their trips.
These vouchers are based on accounting that includes -- as part of the calculation -- reimbursement for mileage to far-off destinations, as if a personal vehicle was taken, even though participants flew in most cases. The vouchers also appear duplicative in nature – as in, it seems as though the authority provided “reimbursements” for at least some expenses also pre-paid or funded on location using the authority’s line of credit, such as for transportation, lodging and some meals.
December 2012 Las Vegas example
ALL of it here:
Living large on the public dime : News