Why is Clay County giving top officials who make more than $100,000 free housing?
Rent-free living can be yours. If you work for Clay County, pull down in excess of $100,000 and don’t mind being “on call,” you may qualify.
And apparently, next to no one needs to know.
That’s the appearance, anyway, with the revelation this week that at least two assistant county administrators, Brad Garrett and Nicole Brown, live rent-free at a county apartment and lake house, respectively. It’s not even considered a taxable benefit, according to the county, so there are no taxes paid on the housing.
The lease agreements, which were executed by a former county administrator without approval from the county’s three elected commissioners, were so sloppily entered into that they don’t even include the year they were signed.
Have you ever heard of a real estate deal like that?
Maybe such benefits are warranted, and maybe not. The thing is, it’s up to the citizens of Clay County to judge that — but how can they, if they don’t know about it and there’s no vote of their elected representatives?
Moreover, who decides which employees get such a sweet deal, and how do they decide it?
Such benefits aren’t necessarily nefarious and, again, may be warranted and even efficient — especially for positions in which after-hours work is often required. But such arrangements ought to be made well-known by governmental bodies as a show of transparency, and to avoid any suspicion of underhandedness. Decisions to offer certain employees such unusual benefits must be open, and open to question. They must be logical and must be plainly in the public interest, not just the employees’. And they have to be completely above-board.
Condemnation of the Kansas City-area county’s free housing arrangements, and how little-known they were, was swift and sure within the county government and without.
“This is the first I’ve seen of it since taking office,” said Clay County Clerk Megan Thompson, who took office in 2015 and is running for Eastern Commissioner Luann Ridgeway’s seat this year. “The leases haven’t been properly filed in the clerk’s office or voted on in public meetings.”
“I question if it’s necessary and the wisest use of taxpayer dollars,” Clay County Auditor Victor S. Hurlbert told The Star, adding that the arrangement was made before he took office in January 2019. At the very least, he said, “Our office has wondered if the housing should be considered a taxable fringe benefit. I’ve asked about that determination with respect to county-provided cars, but have yet to receive a response from the administration. The IRS publication rules might be interpreted to consider the housing as nontaxable, but I feel that only their auditors should answer that question.”
“It is a major concern that the county commission is not managing taxpayer money and property in the best interest of our citizens,” says Clay County Commissioner Jerry Nolte, who is often outvoted by Commissioners Ridgeway and Gene Owen and who has called for their resignations for fighting a state audit of the county and for failing to fund the county jail until the courts ordered it.
“In the past, commissioners have signed these leases and taken responsibility for their official actions. People have the right to expect their elected officials to do their jobs,” Nolte lamented.
“This is one of the many issues that ignited the petition for a state audit. Unbelievable,” said Sherry Duffett, part of Citizens for a Better Clay County, which led the petition drive for the state’s ongoing audit of county finances and operations.
As Clay County government has shredded its own reputation with lengthy, but mercifully unsuccessful, court battles to stop the audit and starve jail inmates, you’d think officials would go out of their way to avoid obscure and questionable real-estate deals.
“I think the next commission should determine how to run their administration with the people’s interests at heart,” Hurlbert said.
That’s a deal citizens would jump at.