One such acolyte is former Miami Herald reporter Matthew Pinzur.
Miami-Dade County taxpayers pay Mr. Pinzur $119,488 a year, (plus a $1,950 car allowance and $7,211 in executive benefits) to handle his former employers at the Herald and issue feel good statements about how great things are going at Miami-Dade County Government Center.
While the Federal Government continues its scrutiny over the Miami-Dade Transit department over lax fiscal oversight, Mr. Pinzur (or "Pinzur the Spinzur" as he is affectionately known over at One Herald Plaza), gets to work.
In an email sent to County staff, he writes:
"After weeks of uncertainty and speculation – which were at least as frustrating for us as for anyone else – our partners at the Federal Transit Administration sent us notice on January 7 of their preliminary findings from a review of financing systems at Miami-Dade Transit.Mr. Pinzur artfully continues the Burgess message that the findings from the Federal Government are mistaken, and that we should all rest assured that Mr. Burgess and his team of professionals are on the case.
"Even before that official notification, the County Manager had assigned a team of professionals from outside the Transit Department – including from the Office of Strategic Business Management, Audit and Management Services and Finance – to investigate our procedures. That review is proceeding quickly, and that team is cooperating fully with FTA.
"At least some of the concerns appear, at this stage, to be founded on incorrect or incomplete information provided by Transit’s management team to FTA. We are grateful for the engagement of our FTA partners and eager for any opportunity to improve our financial-oversight practices. The County Manager has already terminated one employee and removed another from her position as a consequence of their failures to properly oversee these operations.
"Rest assured that we are taking aggressive steps to fully investigate this matter – including both FTA’s concerns and those raised by our own professionals – and will not hesitate to make whatever further changes are necessary to ensure an efficient and safe system of public transportation for our residents and visitors. In the meanwhile, we remain entirely able to operate our network of buses, trains and special transportation services without any changes visible to passengers."
Lost on Mr. Pinzur is that this is the same team of professionals that have mismanaged funds at JMH, the Transit Agency, the Housing Agency, Water and Sewer, and others.
Further lost on Mr. Pinzur is the irony that he does not live nor pay property taxes in the County which he provides his "Spinzur" talents. While the citizens of Miami-Dade County pay Mr. Pinzur's $120,000+ compensation, Mr. Pinzur chooses to live in Broward.
Even more ironic is that while Miami-Dade citizens saw their taxes raised to pay bureaucrats like Mr. Pinzur higher salaries, Mr. Pinzur's taxes in Broward actually went down by nearly 24%.
Only in Mr. Burgess' world of bureaucratic "spinzing" can any of this makes sense.
On March 15th, the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County have the opportunity to end this wasteful charade.
