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RON MATTA

MATTA1 COMCAST. NET


WWW. RONMATTA. INFO FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 09/26/2011 Contact: Ron Matta: 508.577.0580

'The following is in response to the 9/22/11 Enterprise article 'Mayoral challenger calls for resignation of city's longtime chief financial officer.' While I may not have a Wharton MBA as Mr. Condon so eloquently pointed out, I do understand the difference between net assets and cash and investments, either Mr. Condon does not understand the difference between the two or he is trying to continue to confuse the public. As a resident and a taxpayer in Brockton I ask that Mr. Condon explain to me in depth the $122 million dollars in cash and investments on the balance sheet. Mr. Condon tried to blur the lines between cash and investments and net assets in the article, for what reason I am not sure. According to the balance sheet we have $244 million dollars in net assets and $122 million in cash and investments. I am asking Mr. Condon to explain the cash and investments. Considering the city has such a healthy balance sheet I encourage Mr. Condon to explain what types of accounts our cash being held in and what types of investments do we have? What is the nature and duration of these investments? With such a rich surplus am I naive to think we have room in our budget to make responsible and overdue investments in our public safety and infrastructure annually? In the article Mr. Condon claimed, we use this high cash balance to pay for city services in the future? We need all $122 million dollars in cash and investments for the future? Year after year this high cash and investment balance sheet continues to roll over seemingly untouched. Who at City Hall is making the decision every year to sit on $122 million dollars in cash and investments when we have pressing needs in our city? Every year the city collects more money, including the recent real estate tax hike. Please explain to me why we need to continue to carry such a high cash balance sheet annually Mr. Condon? I'd also implore Mr. Condon to offer an explanation as to why we carry such a high cash balance year after year with so many short and long-term liabilities, are we not paying our bills on time Mr. Condon? Brockton has more cash and investments than Worcester; the average resident in Brockton would never believe this fact to be true. Is normal to carry a cash balance so high? Are we making money off of this extraordinarily high cash balance? Who is the Department of Revenue that you speak of Mr. Condon whom you claim only allows the city to spend a portion of our cash and investments, not net assets as you attempt to blur the lines in the article once again? For Mr. Condon to say so flatly that "What's available to be spent on that balance sheet gets spent," is not an explanation a resident and taxpayer should expect from someone that they have hired that holds a Wharton MBA. In closing Mr. Condon, if the city is not in strong financial shape as you pointed out in the article, isn't it time that we search for a new Chief Financial Officer who can get us in better financial shape after your 22 years in the same position?

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