The City of Hamilton found out the hard way;
A scathing audit suggests City of Hamilton departments routinely overspend consulting budgets, pay for unneeded work and improperly account for tens of millions in spending.
Coun. Sam Merulla said the report “reinforces” his belief some city departments rely too heavily on consulting work, period. “My contention is we hire staff and project managers because they have particular expertise … they should be doing the work.”
Councilor Merulla makes a point I have thrown at city hall in Sioux Falls several times, why have expensive 6-Figure a year staff that just hires out the work anyway, especially in our Engineering and Legal departments? I have often suggested to pick one or the other. The suspicians I have is that the city departments like to use consultants to justify expenditures and fees we don’t really need. Increasing water rates or an indoor pool are great examples of how we use consultants to stick it to the taxpayers. It’s time for the city council to take a deep look into our consulting budget and also are use of mid-management. I think we should cut one or the other, or better yet, both.
I still say unincorporate and use county services. They’re efficient with people and budget. Give them an extra 400 million a year from sales tax and there will be no more property tax.