Reading “ ‘Abused our trust’: Inside the fraud that keeps hurting small towns in Missouri, Kansas,” the front page article in Sunday’s (8/27) Kansas City Star, (this url may not be behind a paywall) made me immediately think of Jason Aldean’s “Try that in a Small Town.”
The verses in the song list offenses like hitting someone, holding up a liquor store, cussing a cop, stomping on the flag.
Part of the refrain is
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won't take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don't
Try that in a small town.
The Star’s article provides a number of examples of small towns not taking “care of their own” when lines are crossed about misusing government funds. The most egregious case is the city clerk of Center, Missouri, who over the course of four years, stole over $316,000 from a city of 528 people.
The article also cites Fairview, Missouri, which “took care of its own.” The then-acting mayor’s business was paid over $17,000 for general maintenance. The city had no contract with the business and no bids were put out. The city spent over $120,252 for buying properties that was in violation of a $500,000 trust fund to run a local community center. When a new couple moved to town, they were urged by those afraid of retaliation to run for the board of aldermen. They were elected and able to get a state audit that uncovered this abuse. Efforts, unsuccessful, were made to impeach them and their property was damaged numerous times.
The article provides the reason why fraud is so easy:
Of the nearly 60 audit reports on municipalities posted by the Missouri State Auditor’s Office over the past five years, more than half found shortfalls with segregation of duties [receiving money and accounting for how that money is used].
It is for this reason that “localities are often a petri dish for fraud and other wrongdoing.” In other words, the absence of strong safeguards in small localities means “lines are crossed” too easily and frequently and no one knows or cares(?) to stop the fraud and abuse. The article details how neither Kansas nor Missouri state government is not much help either
Jason Aldean is coming to Kansas City in October. Someone needs to send him this article so he can update “Try this in a Small Town” or he (or his song writers) can write a new song about the fraud that is successfully tried in too many small towns.
[Edited: A shorter of version of this post has been accepted as a letter to the editor in the Kansas City Star.]