Barrow CFO suspended for lying

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Barrow CFO suspended for lying

Posted by

Mike Buffington

in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives

Tuesday, April 7. 2009

Comments (18)

The chief financial officer of Barrow County’s government was suspended Monday morning for twice being “untruthful” to the board of commissioners. Beth Horacek, who has been the CFO since 2005, was suspended without pay for 40 hours, according to the notice of suspension that the Barrow Journal obtained under the state open-records act.

According to the notice, Horacek gave an “untruthful answer” when asked at two board meetings why the increase in the county’s insurance premiums had not been budgeted for fiscal year 2009.

Horacek responded that $250,000 cost hike was due to the unanticipated coverage of additional dependents by the county plan.

"Both times you gave an untruthful answer, and particularly omitted the fact that you failed to budget for the increase in insurance premiums," the notice states.

Privately, Horacek told commissioners that the increase wasn’t budgeted because her former bosses – chief administrator Keith Lee and BOC chairman Doug Garrison – instructed her not to do so.

The notice states that she is not being disciplined for the failure to appropriately budget the item, but for the "misrepresentations made to the Board on an issue of paramount importance to the County."

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#1 Anonymous on 04/07/09 at 07:53 AM [Reply]

No doubt Mr. Yearwood plans to run the county by himself, or perhaps he will bring in a few more of his tax dodging friends to help him out.

#1.1 J Smith on 04/07/09 at 06:27 PM [Reply]

Go, Danny, go! Even though you're catching grief from many - you have numerous supporters that appreciate you looking into every detail of Barrow County Government. Former Chairmen Garrison and County Admin Keith Lee should be taken to court for their misdeeds. Keep up the good work Danny Yearwood! Thanks for saving Barrow Co. over 1/2 million in salaries thus far this year! Also, thanks for making the commission chairman's job more than a full-time job (unlike the predecessor). Go, Danny, Go!!! Horacek needs to go and take the Human Resources Director with her - has anyone looked into Birt's qualifications? One should have a real resume, not just be a cousin to the county administrator...

#1.1.1 anonymous on 04/08/09 at 09:38 AM [Reply]

Yes, I agree way to go Danny. You will have people that do not like what is going on but more than likely they are probably on the counties payroll and are afraid they might lose their over paid position they hold. I'm sorry but I'm still fuming to see Keith lee made that much money and felt he deserved over a $30,000 raise in one year its sick. We have firemen and police putting lives on the line that can not compare to his salary. But Keith was not the only over paid we got secretaries with maybe high school educations making 50,000-60,000 per year. As a citizen of this county and living in the city I'm trying to figure out why we needed all the fancy new vehicles the city has acquired. Are those big chevrolets going to make them perform better at their jobs?

#1.1.2 LGH on 04/12/09 at 08:58 PM [Reply]

I agree with this one 100%!To Danny Yearwood, Keep doing what youre doing Sweetie!Clean house and throw out the trash!

#1.1.2.1 Anonymous on 04/13/09 at 10:55 AM [Reply]

I want to know why Barrow Co considers criminals better than our school children? Why do the misfits deserve a nice new jail and a new courthouse to boot, when the majority of BC schools are old and some look like detention centers. Unless Barrow Co starts to put their schools and education of our children their main priority, BC will continue to look bad in the eyes of outsiders and being a joke. I shudder to think about my 4-year-olds some day having to attend middle school in Barrow Co. There is not much choice in private schools either.

#1.1.2.1.1 red ryder on 04/14/09 at 06:11 PM [Reply]

Where have you been? Barrow County has been building schools all OVER the place! 2 new high schools, new elementary schools, 2 new middle grade schools.

Like the commercial - where's the beef?

#1.1.2.1.2 in the know... on 04/14/09 at 06:14 PM [Reply]

No one ever said that Barrow county thought criminals were better than children. Take a look at the old courthouse and jail.. You'll see 2 buildings that have ran out of space to house the criminals of this county and space to arraign the criminals of this county. It has nothing to do with better than children.. it has to do with necessity.

#2 Anonymous on 04/07/09 at 04:56 PM [Reply]

One has to wonder where all the now dismissed managers came from, and one has to wonder who is going to replace them.

Yearwood, Barrow County IS NOT A USED CAR LOT. It CAN NOT BE RUN by a single person.

Remember "Knowledge is Power" -- Those with the knowledge share the power -- Those without the knowledge can't share the power because then people will find out how little they truly know

#3 Anonymous on 04/07/09 at 07:00 PM [Reply]

It's about time they looked at the finacae lady and took the advice of those who knew what was going on. So she blames Lee & garrison.. guess they are the scapegoat for her too? Thats a crock of crap.. why can't someone take responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming their bad judgements on the last adminstration? She knew what she was doing was wrong and knew she hah to pay the piper, LOL. The excuse of Lee and Garrison is being thrown around too much. Be a woman and tell the truth.. You did it because you wanted yourself to look good in the eyes of the new guys. Be careful cause your sins will find you out. Looks like Ms. Horacek was found out!!

#4 Richard on 04/08/09 at 10:43 AM [Reply]

Barrow County is fast becoming the laughing stock of Georgia

#5 UncleTed on 04/08/09 at 04:30 PM [Reply]

I hope this is what the county needs. It needs alot. What a total mess this place is. If Yearwood is dead wrong in all of this, he can not possibly be making as many mistakes as the previous trash that was in office.

#6 Anonymous on 04/08/09 at 07:11 PM [Reply]

As long as Danny Boy hires replacements for the ousted managers. if he insist on trying to run the entire government by himself, we will be in more trouble then we were with the Garrison bunch. Hopefully, he will look OUTSIDE Barrow for replacements. I don't think we need any more secretaries promoted and we sure as h%%% don't need any unqualified relatives or friends given jobs.

#7 disgruntled current employee on 04/10/09 at 11:44 AM [Reply]

Well I work for the county now and today I'm off without a day of pay. Thanks Danny Yearwood for a shorter check this next pay day. We couldn't even use OUR PTO for this day. I earned that pay, why can't I use it? You'll get the same amount of pay because you are salaried. The workers are the ones suffering the most because we get the % cuts as well as the day without pay. So now people know why everyone that works for the county is a bit grumpy nowadays.

#8 Marta is not SMARTA on 04/10/09 at 05:47 PM [Reply]

"I may be giving up a project that I could do right here in Barrow County, [sacrificing it] for MARTA. And I want them [other county leaders who are A. R. C. members] to understand, that that's not a position I'd like to be put in."

But Yearwood concluded that his county and the rest of the state could not risk the economic blow that a crippled MARTA would inflict, with those 500,000 riders a day unable to get to and from work -- including Barrow County commuters who use outlying Park and Ride lots.

"I've got to make my citizens know this is something that I did for the betterment of Georgia, not just for me or Barrow County. We cannot let our transportation system down. We're talking about 500,000 people a day that ride that train and use MARTA. So we've got to make sure that we fund that."

The cost to Barrow County is high.

"I mean, we've got traffic problems here. If you don't live here you don't really realize what we have to suffer through," Yearwood said.

"We're willing to make this sacrifice. And it is a sacrifice. Because, you know, a million dollars to me [for Barrow County's transportation improvements] is like $25 million to MARTA. So I really need the money. But if it benefits the people of Georgia, yes, I'll stand behind my decision."

Yearwood will now begin explaining his decision to his neighbors, his constituents, who are stuck in Barrow County traffic every day.

"If [the money] is for Barrow County, it should stay in Barrow County," said Mike Brown as he sat in traffic, in his pickup truck, near a traffic-choked, Winder intersection.

"We don't have no MARTA around here. So I don't think they should give [the money] to somebody else if they need to fix the roads around here."

Cynthia Vickers, walking to her car with her two children, across the street from the old, historic Barrow County Courthouse, and shouting above the noise of the cars and trucks and big rigs backed up for blocks, said that, at first, she didn't like what the commission chair did.

"No, we need [the stimulus money] here. To help us here. I think we need more money here to help us here."

You have got to be kidding?

#8.1 Anonymous on 04/11/09 at 07:53 PM [Reply]

Is this a joke????? Does Danny Boy want a job with Marta after he gets kicked out of office? He fires people because the budget isn't balanced -- he denies training for the fireman of this county -- Did he REALLY give 1M to Marta? I live here and I commute into Atlanta -- I don't agree with this. Let Marta sink!!!!! We have more problems here that money could have been used for.

If he truly did this -- He needs to go and NOW

#9 Disgruntled employee on 04/10/09 at 11:44 PM [Reply]

And to add fuel to the flames, Danny goes & gives away $1 MIL to Marta. What a joke!!

#10 Marta is not SMARTA on 04/12/09 at 03:05 PM [Reply]

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=128903&catid=40

copy and paste link or google - Danny Yearwood Marta

#11 A Barrow County Commuter into Atlanta on 04/13/09 at 06:23 PM [Reply]

Citizens of Barrow County -- Please show up at the BOC meeting tomorrow night and let Danny Boy know just how you feel about his WASTING monies that could be used here in Barrow.

He has laid people off under the guise of we need to save money to balance the budget and then he goes and gives away $1M.

One Million dollars would go a long way to installing needed sewer lines, or repairing roads, or creating / saving jobs in Barrow.

The highest unemployment rate in years and he is basically giving away Barrow County jobs to Atlanta residents.

It seems to me, he's either trying to insure he has a job after he gets ousted from office or buying his way into the state government.

We didn't vote him in, we voted Garrison out -- there's a difference!

Can you spell R-E-C-A-L-L?

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