Monessen ends 2015 in the red
MONESSEN – The financially strapped city of Monessen ended 2015 with a huge deficit, according to an audit that didn’t include findings or recommendations on how the Mon Valley municipality can better manage its business affairs.
The audit performed by MaherDuessel of Pittsburgh, which was made public last week, indicates Monessen ended last year facing a $787,625 deficit, with the general fund taking the hardest hit at $416,828 in the red.
Monessen Mayor Lou Mavrakis said he was told the city had a surplus of more than $30,000 at the end of last year, even though the city’s coffers ran dry in September and Monessen is still under a spending freeze.
“That’s how we ended up with this deficit,” Mavrakis said.
The former steel town is nearly $13.5 million in debt spread over three decades, according to the mayor, and its leaders in February asked for state help to right the city’s finances to avoid becoming a distressed municipality under Pennsylvania Act 47.
Mavrakis said the city has faced deficits for the past three years, and that he expects to city to run out of money in July.
The previous Monessen audit, which also was performed by MaherDuessel, showed the city having a $199,483 deficit on Dec. 31, 2014, city records show.
City Councilman Ron Chiaravalle, who chairs the street department, said he has a budget “on paper, but there isn’t any money there to do anything with.”
He said the city couldn’t make payroll Jan. 1, prompting about four layoffs.
“We’re making progress,” Chiaravalle said. “The lights are on. We need to tell the people what kind of problems we have.”
The Observer-Reporter attempted to obtain the findings and recommendations pertaining to the 2015 audit under an open records request filed April 28 before city Clerk Holly L. Minno.
“The document doesn’t exist,” Minno said that day. “I can’t give you something that I don’t have,” she said.
In her response Tuesday to the request, Minno stated: “The management letter has not been received by the city at this time; we will notify you when the requested document is available.”
Melissa Melewsky, chief counsel at the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said municipalities are required to make audit findings public.
“If they can get it, they have a responsibility to obtain it,” Melewsky said. “There should be no barriers to access to this.”
City council will meet at 11 a.m. Monday to discuss the audit at the municipal complex, 1 Wendell Ramey Lane.