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$2 million Kennedy budget surplus is missing $500,000, group says
Thursday, September 30, 1999 By Lawrence Walsh, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A Kennedy citizens group has asked the district attorney's office to investigate an alleged $500,000 discrepancy in the size of the township's surplus for 1998.
In a letter to Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., the Kennedy Township Committee for Community Awareness said the township had reported a $1.5 million surplus for last year but its auditors said the surplus was slightly more than $2 million.
Committee President David Moses said in the letter that the discrepancy might be cleared up if the group could look at an independent audit of the township's books, specifically the section dealing with the 1 percent earned income tax that the township shares 50-50 with Montour School District.
Although state law requires an annual independent audit of earned income tax revenues, "the township cannot produce one," Moses wrote.
He said citizens have made at least three requests for a copy of the audit since January.
"Needless to say, the residents are becoming increasingly alarmed and concerned due to the township's efforts to avoid facing an audit," Moses wrote. "[W]e are very suspicious of the township's financial condition."
In addition to investigating the alleged discrepancy, Moses asked Zappala to do what he could to force the township to submit to an independent audit for 1990 through 1998.
A spokeswoman for Zappala said he and his staff will review the documents that accompanied Moses' letter.
The documents include the annual audit and financial report for 1998; a tax collector's manual; reports on the community's general, liquid fuels and sewer funds; and a copy of the state law that requires annual audits of earned income taxes.
Also included is a two-page narrative in which the auditors praised township officials for their "aggressive tax-collection program" and for reducing the real estate millage from 14 mills to 7 mills in the past four years.
Township Manager Paul Bingham declined comment.
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