Management Services Report Questions Comptroller’s ‘Inexplicable’ Numbers
Commissioner Erasmus Informs Board of Estimate of Concerns
Tens of Millions of Dollars Involved
Management Services Commissioner Brett Erasmus informed the Mount Vernon Board of Estimate and Contract at the November 20, 2018 meeting of his concerns over “anomalies in the city’s financial records” after reviewing data supplied by Comptroller Reynolds, which he called “inexplicable.”
At the request of Mayor Richard Thomas, Commissioner Erasmus summarized the findings of his Nov. 8 report, which outlines nine financial anomalies involving tens of millions of dollars of city funds. [See report here] “The balance sheet doesn’t balance, credits are represented as debits and debits as credits,” Erasmus said. “From the perspective of a professional accountant, I can’t figure this out.”
Erasmus said that the Comptroller’s “inexplicable” numbers had serious consequences, because without a clear understanding of the city’s financial picture, there was no way to know with any confidence if bills were being paid, revenues were being booked and just how much money the city had on hand.
In his report, Erasmus emphasized that the lack of transparency was particularly troublesome as the city puts a budget together for next year. “The 2019 budget process, which is now underway, cannot be legitimately completed unless the city has an accurate picture of its finances.”
Mayor Thomas agreed. “There are major consequences of the city’s balance sheet being out of whack,” he said.
At the meeting, Erasmus repeated his request to sit down with the Comptroller to sort through the numbers. Reynolds rejected the request, saying, “We don’t need your help.”
However, Councilman Marcus Griffith, who is the chair of the city’s Budget Committee, said at the meeting that he would review Erasmus’s findings as soon as possible.
Other speakers at the public meeting highlighted the practical frustrations of dealing with Comptroller.
Vincent Emilio of DB Hydraulics, a company that has been doing business with the city for more than 50 years, said he was planning to go to White Plains after the meeting to file a lawsuit because he can’t get the Comptroller to pay bills dating back to July.
“Where I come from if you take something and don’t pay for it, that’s theft,” he said. “This is insane.”
Yolanda Brown-Harris, the city’s Mail Room Coordinator, said a freeze had been put on the city’s postage account because no payment has been made since July. “I can’t do my job, and this affects every department in the city that needs something mailed out,” she said, noting that the Comptroller continued to send out mail from her office, but was doing it using regular stamps, which are more expensive than the bulk rate the city can use when its account is not frozen.
