Is the jig up?

September 2, 2015

The Times published an article  about the ongoing troubles between our county hospital and the children’s hospital yesterday.

It looks like there may be a new party at the table now.  According to the article our county hospital and the children’s hospital colluded to get federal money that they should not have received.

The article quoted a former lawyer for the children’s hospital:

She said that as a governmental entity, UMC could put up money for federal health grants known as intergovernmental transfers. For each dollar UMC put up, the feds put up $1.40, Vogel said. The idea was to use Children’s Hospital’s rent payment for the local match, but federal rules prohibit such an explicit quid pro quo, so the deal wasn’t put in writing, Vogel said.

Liars, cheaters, thieves?

According to the article the children’s hospital recently made claims in front of a federal bankruptcy judge that any rent money that have paid in the past was actually used to scam a federal matching fund program.

We will have to wait to see if the feds take legal action.  We should probably expect them to demand a return of the money.

Will we see this prosecuted as a criminal case?

Can we believe anything that either side says at this point?

We deserve better

Brutus

8 Comments | County Government, El Paso Times, Federal Government | Permalink
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Luxury from our tax dollars

August 28, 2015

The superintendent of the Ysleta Independent School District was featured in an El Paso Times article the other day.

What they wrote when quoting the superintendent goes a long way explain by example one of the problems with our local governments.

They wrote:

The largest project remains the $93 million renovation of Eastwood High School, though the price tag is nearly $20 million more than what was proposed this spring.

Under the May proposal, YISD would have completely rebuilt the school. The new plan would renovate 85 percent of it but at a higher caliber, De La Torre said, offering the analogy of a model home’s upgrades versus the standard home buyers end up getting.

“What we were getting was the base price,” he said. “We weren’t getting the marble; we were getting the Formica.”

Formica

Not only do these people want $430 million of your money but they are publicly stating that they want our public schools to be luxurious.  His statement was not accidental.  The Times reported this:

Under the May proposal, YISD would have completely rebuilt the school. The new plan would renovate 85 percent of it but at a higher caliber, De La Torre said, offering the analogy of a model home’s upgrades versus the standard home buyers end up getting.

Standard home buyers

The district needs to understand that El Paso is one of the poorest of the major cities while having the 5th highest taxes of America’s 50 largest cities.  Many citizens cannot even afford their own home.  They get taxed through their landlords and in tragic twist of circumstances do not qualify for property tax exemptions.  Yes the poor are disadvantaged from a property tax perspective.

The thought of building fancy school buildings when utilitarian ones will do when El Paso is in the economic situation that it is in is foolish.

Buying votes

The article showed the superintendent intending to buy the voters.

He quoted Hughes: “Not everybody is going to get everything they want, but everybody is going to get something that they want.”

And then:

Hughes’ job ended after the trustees approved the bond issue, but De La Torre said he is considering hiring other consultants to help push the proposal forward.

Our school officials could get into trouble if they use taxpayer money to advocate for this bond issue.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

 

2 Comments | El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Engineered profits

August 23, 2015

The Times reported the following in their Wednesday, August 18, 2015 edition:

The city recently hired two engineering and consulting firms — HNTB and Freese and Nichols — to assess the department’s policies and procedures, and to manage the Metropolitan Planning Organization submittal process for transportation projects.

Lombraña said both firms would be eligible to bid for contracts in the future if the city decides to outsource work previously overseen by city engineers–even if the recommendation to do so comes from the firms themselves.

Searching the city council agendas we got no results for either a contract with HNTB or Freese and Nichols, so we cannot report any of the financial details.

Being able to bid on projects that they themselves recommend be taken to bid must be sweet.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Paying serious lip service

August 11, 2015

This is another example of the double-talk that is coming out of our county hospital.  On April 15, 2015 they issued this announcement:

umccompliance

Then on July 9, 2015 the joint commission issued it’s preliminary denial of accreditation decision.  The commission explains a preliminary denial as:

Preliminary Denial of Accreditation results when there is justification to deny accreditation to a health care organization due to one or more of the following: an immediate threat to health or safety for patients or the public; failure to resolve the requirements of an Accreditation with Follow-up Survey status after two opportunities to do so; failure to resolve the requirements of a Contingent Accreditation status; or significant noncompliance with Joint Commission standards. This decision is subject to review and appeal before the determination to deny accreditation.

On January 2, 2015 we wrote No cures today, an article about the hospital’s response to having been given the worst scores possible in the three rating areas that Medicare used to grade the hospital.  The result seemed to indicate that we would suffer the loss of about $350,000 in payments.

Timeline

January 2, 2015 we write about the hospitals reaction to being condemned by Medicare.  The hospital’s failures are endangering patients and costing the taxpayers money.

April 15, 2015 the hospital issues a press release letting us know how proud the board is with their compliance report and compliance plans.  Our hospital administrator tells us that “our program operations are always exceeding standards”.

July 9, 2015, less than three months after their hollow assurances, the hospital is threatened with denial of accreditation for some of the same things that they were penalized for in January and told us they were taking seriously in April.

I can’t write a date for when our county commissioner’s took action to clean up this mess because they haven’t.

We deserve better

Brutus

4 Comments | County Government, El Paso Times, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

They bid us adieu

August 5, 2015

Since we’ve been talking about the Times these last weeks, a short comment about their Monday, July 27, 2015 issue might be appropriate.

What a waste!

They had some articles about some motor vehicle accidents where unfortunately some people died.  They gave us a list of someone’s most wanted criminals.  They wrote about some local students studying earthquake aftershocks in a foreign county.

We didn’t see any investigative reporting focused on our local problems, although the day before they wrote of our “staggering” problem of people opting to leave town and the need for improved governance.

They even wrote about our county government taking a purchase out to bid.

On second thought that could be news if the county conducted the bid fairly.

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | County Government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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