COLUMBIA, 3/5/18 (Beat Byte) -- The Columbia Police Officers Association has joined the
Columbia Board of Realtors requesting the City Council ask Missouri State Auditor
Nicole Galloway "for a full and complete audit of the books, records, holdings, and finances of the City of Columbia, Missouri."
The organization -- which represents most Columbia police officers -- cited the city's notorious Swiss bank account as a source of concern.
The account, at the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS),
had a balance of $321 million as of September. The figure is up over $20 million from 2016.
It has nearly tripled, from $110 million, over the past twenty years.
CPOA members partly blame the failures of last year's Internet "use tax" and the 2014 property tax for cops on the city's massive Swiss bank holdings.
"As long as it appears the city maintains over three hundred million dollars in a Swiss account, the citizens might find it difficult to believe the city is in need of additional revenue,"
the group wrote to Mayor Brian Treece and the City Council. "CPOA repeatedly hears from our supporters that the voters are hesitant to support any new taxes."