EMBARRASSING IRVINGTON AUDIT MORE PROOF THAT SPECIAL MUNICIPAL AID NEEDS TO BE ELIMINATED

AUDIT FINDS IRVINGTON’S BOOKS OUT-OF-BALANCE SINCE 2000 DESPITE SPECIAL AID FROM THE STATE TOTALING $27 MILLION

    Assemblymen Scott T. Rumana and David C. Russo said a recent audit revealing inappropriate expenditures and careless bookkeeping in Irvington provides another reason why Gov. Jon S. Corzine must end the Special Municipal Aid given to a handful of select cities over the years.

    “Governor Corzine has embraced this program despite objective evidence from his own auditors that these cities have wasted public dollars siphoned from Trenton at the expense of deserving municipalities,” Rumana, R-Passaic, Bergen and Essex, said. “When the governor details his budget proposal next week, high on the list of cuts should be this slush fund from which $153 million was doled out to nine cities in Fiscal Year 2008.”

While Irvington has not received the special aid since Fiscal Year 2005, it had received $27 million in extra aid from Fiscal Years 2000 to 2005. It also received $1.5 million in Extraordinary Aid in Fiscal Year 2006. That is on top of the roughly $14 million it receives annually in regular state aid. An audit by the State Comptroller’s office found the city’s books have been out of balance since 2000, plus several egregious examples such as:

•    Paying $36,000 in cell-phone charges for game downloads and roaming fees from faraway locations such as the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

•    Overpaying $2,271 when 19 employees were sent to Harrah’s Hotel & Casino for a three-day conference that was paid without supporting documentation.

•    Failing to account for $10,000 worth of computer equipment that breached security because 24 terminated employees had access to the city’s network.

    “There is no way Governor Corzine can justify slashing state aid to towns that spend their tax dollars properly and wisely when cities such as Irvington squander the gifts they’ve been given from the state’s taxpayers,” Russo, R-Passaic, Bergen and Essex, said. “The findings in this audit are a slap in the face to taxpayers throughout the state.”