Did Leigh Jacobs Solve The Case Of "The Missing Money"?

Current Finance Director Leigh Jacobs may have solved the long-standing mystery of whether there was money missing after the the 2023 budget was approved, despite previous claims it never was missing.

For those who have paid attention to my work with the North Dakota Watchdog Network, often times there are situations where an investigations starts and then just hits a dead end because there is no where further to go with it.

Such is the case with the 2023 situation surrounding the “Budget Snafu” at Burleigh County.

This whole scenario took place prior to Mark Splonskowski assuming office in April 2023. So none of this “budget snafu” can be blamed on Splonskowski, but it may have contributed to the problems that have metastasized since then.

It also took place prior to Commissioner Becky Mathews passing away, and Steve Bakken taking her seat. In between Bakken losing the mayor’s re-election race in November 2022 (the same time I lost my bid for a seat on the Burleigh County Commission) he and I worked extensively on covering this “budget snafu” issue.

If you recall, that saga started with an Executive Session meeting that was mentioned during an open county commission meeting:

Press Release: Watchdog Requests AG Review Of Possible Open Meeting Violation

Again,…