蘑菇视频

Feb 2, 2017 By Ted Harhai 3 min read

In the Tuesday, Jan. 24 edition of the Mon Valley Herald- Standard, I read with keen interest the article entitled “Monessen turns deficit into fund balance.”

Before we bestow sainthood on the city councilman who miraculously balanced a $700,000 deficit in four months, let’s take a closer look. This is extremely interesting due to the fact that the outstanding, professional auditing firm of Maher and Duessel couldn’t achieve this in two and a half years. Why? Maybe, just maybe, the city administration didn’t adhere to the professional auditors experienced recommendations? Incidentally, they resigned as Monessen’s auditor last September. Why?

But, in four short months, we now have a balanced budget with a reserve of $48,000. Think back a couple of weeks ago in the newspaper, an article stated that the councilman not only closed the $700,000 deficit, he achieved a balance of over $600,000! One can only speculate that someone must have advised him that this was a $1.3 million swing in the budget (20 to 25 percent) and it needed to be toned down somewhat. Here we are a couple of weeks later and the balance is $48,000. Why? The assumption would be one of several cases: There never was a $700,000 deficit to begin with. There was a $700,000 deficit erased mainly by excessive fee increases, the sale of buildings, etc., and not a “million little things” as expressed by the solicitor. Incidentally, why is the solicitor making those comments and not another councilperson? Or lastly, there is possibly not a balanced budget at all!

The solicitor exclaimed that she had “never seen anything like this done before,” and I’m quite sure that she hasn’t – I never have in twenty-plus years in public service. I am not at all alarmed by her response as we now pay the city solicitors over $100,000 per year! Now that’s something else that I haven’t seen in my time in public service. In Monessen, the former solicitors averaged between $20,000/$40,000 per year. Why the excessive increase in solicitor costs (average over $100,000/year) since the “new” administration took over in 2014?

If the city did not use money from the 2017 Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) that they applied for, what funding did they use for their bills in 2016? Are they even paying their bills? Recently, I was advised that the police department couldn’t purchase gas, because their account was “empty!” This also reportedly occurred several times for the streets department and the parks department. Again, is the city paying its bills? Is that part of the “balancing the budget” act?

Additionally, why would the city turn down a loan from the USDA for $1 million at 1.75 percent for 40 years and also additional grant assistance offered by U. S. Sen. Robert Casey’s office? It just doesn’t make sense when the city administration claims they are in dire need of funding? No, instead the city raised the line usage fee for sewage again by $5 per household for an approximately $250,000 increase! Why?

I do hope our city is on better financial footing, but due to the lack of specifics, transparency and accountability I find that hard to believe. Think about it. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!

Ted Harhai represented the 58th Legislative District in the state House of Representatives from 1998 until 2016. He previously was a councilman for Monessen City from 1996-1997 and a mayor from 1998 until 2002.