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Friday, March 21, 2003 Page: 9A
OPINION
JUST A LOOK around is enough to tell anyone the city of Wilkes-Barre has
troubles: vacant store fronts, crumbling infrastructure, weedy lots, dirty
streets and the routine news of financial difficulties.
A recent letter from auditors just confirms the obvious problems.
The City Council and mayor withheld that revealing audit letter from the
public and it indicates how deep those problems are embedded.
The letter from Parente Randolph auditors – call it a draft like Mayor Tom
McGroarty, call it preliminary – repeats conclusions from the previous audit:
The city has multiple problems, rampant inefficiencies and desperately needs
standard accounting practices.
This new letter, which was supplied to the Times Leader, indicates how
severe the solutions may be. The letter suggests: The city should consider
selling the abandoned call center on South Main Street to pay off $9 million
in Redevelopment Authority debt; the city is owed money, almost 40 percent of
small-business and individual loans made by the city are delinquent or in
default and the effort hasn’t bee made to collect the money; ownership of real
estate and equipment is scattered through various city entities and agencies.
Because the ownership and purchase of property and equipment is not
standardized, there are duplications and inefficiencies.
There are possible corrections. Wilkes-Barre still doesn’t have a
comprehensive accounting policy or manual, which would help catch errors and
eliminate waste. That’s a suggestion made in the 2000 audit, which was
completed in March 2002.
At the beginning of this year, the city was supposed to adopt Governmental
Accounting Standards Board Statement, an accounting of all assets. A year
later, those recommendations don’t appear to be acted upon. The situation is
normal: all fouled up.
The familiar refrain of this audit letter – call it a draft, call it
redundant to previous audits – reveals the problems are deeper and dirtier
behind the vacant store fronts, messy streets and crumbling infrastructure.
The letter reveals that it’s worse than it looks. The added insult is the
council and mayor didn’t reveal the information to the public.
Pretty much everyone is confounded by the mayor. We still have
expectations, however, for council members to be leaders. They don’t do people
any favors by shielding the bad news. Rather, it appears they’re trying to
hide their ineffectiveness.
As the elected officials who represent the people in the operation of the
city, council members need to be clear about the depth and breadth of the
dilemmas facing Wilkes-Barre. The people of Wilkes-Barre paid for the audit,
and they’ll pay the price to fix the problems of the city. They deserve
honesty from officials. They deserve solutions.