So I have ubuntu 16x running bitcoin core. Its a full node and fully synched. Run with bitcoind --daemon as suggested. Using a particular address from my wallet, whenever I send money to the address getblanace works fine (bitcoin-cli getbalance XXXX 1). Whenever I send money from the address, (on a completely different system using a web based wallet), it shows that the bitcoins arrive when expected, but my getbalance of my correct address never goes down. I even tried sending all the money out in 10 different transactions and saw it was failing when the the account should have been zero'd out, all the while always reporting that I had my high original balance.
I feel like I am missing something basic but I can't seem to figure it out. Thank you in advance
$ bitcoin-cli getblockcount