Letter to the Editor: Public Not Getting Full Story on West Bloomfield Treasurer

(The following is a letter to the editor from West Bloomfield Township Treasurer Teri Weingarden)

As the Treasurer of West Bloomfield Township, I have faithfully served and supported the residents.  I am a Michigan Certified Public Treasurer and Certified Public Funds Investment Manager, and consistently train in investment strategies and laws, often at my expense, to take advantage of federal programs and investment opportunities. 

I am disappointed that my expertise, professionalism and experience are not respected by fellow Board members. 

Over the last five years the Township board has used public resources to attack my department and myself. The Board used the Personnel Committee to remove employees from my department, leave key positions open for months, lowered salaries of my Deputy, Cash Manager and now the Treasurer position.  Despite their best efforts, my small staff and I have prevailed and always accomplished all of our statutory duties. 

In Township governance the Treasurer is in charge of the tax collections, distributions, fund transfers, receipt of all township funds, bond payments, letters of credit and banking relationships.  T

he General Ledger and accounting functions are the statutory responsibility of the Township Clerk and the Finance department and accountants report to the Clerk not the Treasurer. The Board paid an attorney to create a report outlining accounting deficiencies that was inaccurate, defamatory and did not include rebuttals. The Board acknowledged I had not cost the township any money or evidence of malfeasance, consequently, did not send Governor Snyder their motion. 

The Township board has been quick to criticize, but have not shared my many successes.  My suggestion to issue and purchase Pension bonds saved the Township a $1 million in pension costs and allowed the Township to realize higher investment rates of return.  

I consistently outperform investment benchmarks by 400%.  My investment strategy has allowed the township to self- fund Special Assessment Districts saving residents bond issuance costs while the township achieves higher investment returns.

The Township board lowered the Township Treasurer’s salary from $106,000 to $22,000 a year. However, none of the tasks that were “reassigned” were Treasurer Department tasks.  Legally the Board cannot delegate any statutory responsibilities without my consent.   Therefore no work was removed from my department, the board simply changed the way Finance administers township accounting.

The Township board is attempting to circumvent the political process, not allowing the residents of West Bloomfield to determine their own representation. This action is purely political. I hope the residents fight for their rights over the democratic process. 

– Teri Weingarden, West Bloomfield Treasurer