Pulaski County’s preliminary fiscal plan is now officially public record. The county council voted unanimously last week to authorize Auditor Laura Wheeler to release the plan to members of the public, if requested.
Consultant Jeffrey Peters presented the plan during a public meeting back in April, and it was visible to anyone who was there. Because of that, some of the council members said they thought it was already public record. But Wheeler said County Attorney Kevin Tankersley had determined that the council’s permission was needed before it could be released.
Also during last week’s meeting, Council Member Ken Boswell said Peters has since put together some more information. “He’s looked into some of our budgets for anomalies where budgets have increased, looked at over years where we were solvent and paying things and not doing a lot of additionals versus where we are now and how things are being done,” Boswell explained.
Boswell didn’t go into specifics about that portion of the plan last week, but said he’d send it along to the rest of the council. Peters’ information about the county’s finances was one of the items council members explicitly voted to include on next month’s meeting agenda.
