As a Cornelius, NC resident, I have followed the MI-Connection situation for many years now. Unfortunately, Davidson is facing serious financial crises caused by MI-Connection. This is not a one-year budget problem and will require yearly cash inflows of millions of dollars.

As a I prefer a strong, fiscally solvent neighbor to the North, I would recommend that you ask the following questions.

(1) Full-publications of all financial estimates made by the consultants prior to the purchase. These consultants were paid millions of dollars and have liability if they made false claims or did not complete the due diligence. Obviously, something horrible has gone on here so hold them accountable.

(2) The fiscal budget provided is only a high-level income statement. I have not seen any published balance sheets showing all assets and all liabilities. The balance sheet (a common accounting report) is critical to understanding the “value” of the MI-Connection Asset. It is possible that the value of the asset is negative so pouring more money may be futile.

(3) The proposed fiscal budget also does not provide a cash-flow statement which tells you how much cash Mi-Connection is capturing and how much it is spending. Given budget constraints, the cash flow is much more important than an income statement which has non-cash items included.

Finally, Davidson needs to admit a worst case scenario which would be best described as if the downward trend in subscriptions and customers continues into 2010 and 2011. How much would Davidson really owe?

Make no mistake Davidson, you are facing a local fiscal crisis that has the real possibility of bankrupting your community. My gut feel is that no one has truly accepted the reality of the situation to make some really tough decisions.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeff, thanks for the comment. Some folks in Davidson and Mooresville have been asking lately how we got here. This comment echoes what I am hearing elsewhere.

Some imply that the purchase was somehow kept a secret or that financial information has never been revealed. Whether you agree with the decision or not, it’s a fact that the towns did hold public meetings and public hearings in advance of the decision to buy. In response to a citizen request in 2007, the Town of Davidson did publish a web page of documents about the purchase, though it came after the vote. (See http://davidsonnews.net/2007/11/14/town-provides-cable-tv-documents/). The page is still on the town website.

This comment suggests that town officials are trying to withhold or hide the fact that the system value is now under water. On the contrary, they’ve been pretty straightforward about this in all my interviews for DavidsonNews.net and my coverage for WFAE-FM. I could point you to a half-dozen places where they’ve admitted this. It’s the main reason that they cannot sell the system right now – it’s worth far less than they have invested in it.

It’s also suggested that we don’t have enough information about the system’s revenues or expenses. Doesn’t the summary give us as much info as we need as citizens? MI-Connection’s revenues are not covering its costs, it’s pretty clear. Sure, citizens might decided to spend time second-guessing the system general manager about the line items in his budget. It strikes me the problem here is bigger than that. The real question is what can the towns do about the shortfall that’s expected for the next few years? See our recent coverage on DavidsonNews.net for more about how they’re answering that question, http://www.davidsonnews.net/tag/cable-tv/

Also, anyone who is interested in MI-Connection’s budget is invited to attend the public hearing on the 2010-11 budget on Thursday, 7:30 a.m., at MI-Connection’s office, 420 S. Academy St., Mooresville. See http://davidsonnews.net/2010/05/24/public-hearing-thursday-on-mi-connection-budget/ ]