When he ran for office last year, no doubt Blytheville Mayor James Sanders knew if elected he would have some obstacles in the path of the city becoming fiscally sound.
Little did he know the ex-mayor would leave a boulder behind to block any potential progress.
Just as Sanders seemed to have Blytheville headed down the right road, the IRS came knocking with a $2 million overdue payroll tax bill.
One would think the city is at risk of the IRS placing liens on its property or being forced to cut services because former Mayor Barrett Harrison's administration apparently chose to spend payroll taxes on something other than payroll taxes.
Whether it turns out someone embezzled the money or it was shifted to other line items, the fact is the citizens will be the ones repaying the $2 million shortfall.
After all, it's the city's tax bill, not Harrison's or any other individual's.
And Blytheville now must find a revenue source to right the wrong as the ex-mayor sits back in his cushy new job as president of the Blytheville/Gosnell Regional Airport Authority.
So, residents of Blytheville, get ready to pony up.
By my count, you owe about $130 each -- that's every man, woman and child counted in the 2010 Census. A family of five is out $650 in one way or another.
Under Harrison's leadership, likely the city would have stuck a charge on the water bill, knowing residents would have to pay it. Too bad the IRS didn't have that option. Maybe the city would have honored its tax responsibility, rather than indulge in wasteful spending. Perhaps the thousands doled out to organizations -- while worthy of funding by a financially healthy entity -- could have been used to pay the payroll taxes. The city has spent thousands supplementing Thunder Bayou Golf Links as well, which has generated a lot of criticism. It has missed out on significant water department revenues recently discovered by the current administration.
Give Sanders credit. He has handled the situation with tact.
"It's not a finger-pointing venture," Sanders said during Monday's Finance and Purchasing meeting, where it was revealed the city owes the IRS $2,007,483.00, not including any penalties. "We're not trying to point fingers. There is a problem and we're trying to address that problem."
Sanders has every right to throw Harrison under the bus, so the speak. Instead, he has kept the tax issue as the focus of discussion, instead of under whose administration the problem was created.
Those in the Finance Office certainly deserve a share of the blame, but the buck stops at the mayor's desk. He was the one ultimately responsible for overseeing all operations of the city, including making sure bills are paid.
It's interesting that Harrison often blamed the preceding administration for the debt it left, when his administration dug a much bigger hole for the city to climb out of just weeks following his exit.
When the dust settles, the city will owe the large tax bill, no matter what the ongoing investigations reveal.
Hopefully it won't be the taxpayer alone who pays.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com