Weems Audit-CCFC Letter to Membership
Lies and Damn Lies and the Scoundrels in Our Midst
Hello Friends:
Our County is reopening, but you wouldn’t know it if you tried to come to attend a County Commission meeting to address your Commissioners. The doors are still locked and frankly, I think they like it that way. Two years ago, Commissioners greatly restricted access by the public by creating a written policy severing your ability to actually speak and get a reply from your Commissioners at public meetings. Now, they can hide behind Covid-19 restrictions that they put on to exclude the public. Now, every utterance goes unchallenged, no matter how wrong the statement. We now have our very own Star Chamber in Franklin County.
If you know me, you know I stew about a lot of things I feel are unjust or misleading. At a recent BOCC meeting the CPA that just conducted the Hospital Audit appeared to give a glowing report on Weems. Naturally, none of the Commissioners read it or they would have certainly asked questions that would have revealed the lack of forthrightness. Taken from the actual report, I give you the truth. We have uploaded the report to our web site. You can view the actual statements at:
http://abetterfranklin.com/images/PDFs/WeemsAuditorsStatement-2019.pdfRead for yourself how you often can’t trust what’s said by your Commissioners:
Page 2—Prior Period Restatement was massive
Page 2—In Other Matters, Management elected to not have the required Management Discussion. This is a big deal…Why?
Page 3—Patient accounts receivables is severely written down from internal financial provided to the public throughout the year.
Page 3—Current Assets down quite a bit. That is cash and cash equivalents.
Page 3—Note the Construction in Progress of $2,575,437—that’s how much they have spent on studies, architects and other things to build a new hospital they can’t afford.
Page 3—Accounts Payable rose to $908k
Page 3—Total Liabilities decreased only slightly in spite of a nearly $700k write off of a loan forgiven by the current Board of Commissioners. Net affect was nearly a wash
Page 4—Total Operating Expenses up 10% after being up a similar amount the Page 5—Cash and Cash Equivalents dropped by ½ million Dollars as mentioned earlier previous year
Page 5—Cash and Cash Equivalents dropped by ½ million Dollars as mentioned earlier
Page 7—Prior Period Restatements totaling $1.25 million has little explanation but was a negative change to the statement. This alone should be reason to fire the CFO, but wait, there is more.
Page 18—Medicare patients dropped from 40% to 38% which is especially troublesome since only Medicare receives the Critical Care Access subsidy, not any other form of payment like Medicaid or self-pay. More worrisome is that Medicaid grew by 3% which the hospital loses money on every time.
Page 23—Medical Malpractice Insurance notes that Weems is not accruing liability like it should which would affect the bottom line in a negative manner. In addition, it was unreported that Weems is significantly underinsured, relying on the financial strength of the County to pay claims exceeding the liability limits of its woefully low insurance limit of about $250,000.
Page 27—Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting continue to be weak.
Page 29—Accrual Basis Accounting is done ineffectively requiring many adjustments or reclassifications. This is a Repeat Item. The effect as stated is that there is “Material misstatement of the financial statements.” This is your big reason for firing the CFO.
Page 30—Accounting and Finance Staffing is called out again this year and the report clearly states that “Processes and controls in place in fiscal 2019 were not sufficient to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting which resulted in the other findings described within this schedule.” CFO issue again.
Page 31—Account Receivable is overstated. “Reducing net AR by a material amount.”
Page32—Recording of Audit Adjustments were not properly performed from the previous year’s audit.
This cursory reading of the Audit Reports should set off alarm bells all over the county in a normal situation. Commissioners and Hospital Management have been clearly warned of the issues at Weems. Watch that $3.2 million Corona Virus “gift” disappear over the next two years if things continue the way they are with current losses of a quarter million dollars a month. Any independent professional would have to view the repeated issues with financial controls and reports as likely/potentially deliberate and designed to allow Hospital Management and the Board to make claims of progress that are just not true. A copy of this email and the report should be sent to the Auditor General for further review.
Let’s not forget that we had the largest Nonprofit Health System offer us millions of dollars and a virtual end to risk until last month when the BOCC decided to continue Lockley’s Folly. $23 million in taxes collected so far and counting!
God bless America and all of you!
Thank you.
Allan J. Feifer
President
Concerned Citizens of Franklin County, Inc.
P.O Box 990
Eastpoint, Florida 32328
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABetterFranklin.com
(850) 653-5571
“The Concerned Citizens of Franklin County, Inc. serves as a citizens’ advocate to ensure that our Franklin County governments are more open, affordable, efficient, and responsive to our citizens. The organization seeks to hold public officials accountable for their actions in the administration of their duties and in their fiduciary responsibilities to the taxpayers.”
Commissioner Contacts:
Commissioner Bert Boldt - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 519-4966
Commissioner Smokey Parrish - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 653-8790
Commissioner Ricky Jones - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 653-8861
Chairman Noah Lockley - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 653-4452
Commissioner William Massey - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 653-8861
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