Letter to the editor: Fixing finances in Allegheny Township
Regarding Joseph Ferguson’s letter “Allegheny Township’s fiscal footing” (Jan. 28, TribLive): The 3% tax increase is the first time taxes have been raised in 14 years, and will cost taxpayers approximately $12 per year.
Ferguson asserts that during his 12 years as supervisor, the township never experienced significant deficits between revenues and expenditures. However, the circumstances we are confronting today are a result of mismanagement and financial decisions made by the previous management and supervisors. Our financial landscape has been affected by years of neglect and lack of transparency.
From 2016 to 2019, expenditures were more than income, eating away at our reserve/general fund. Yet in 2019, the township approved (with Ferguson voting “yes”) a bond for $2.45 million for an administration building that we did not need. A bond is debt, a debt this township could not sustain.
Due to poor, incompetent or intentional bookkeeping/supervision, the bond funding was intermixed with our general fund and allocated as income vs. debt, and as such was used for expenditures beyond the building as well as to cover the depletion of our general fund (expenses continue to outpace revenue).
Another shortfall: There was approximately $500,000 in revenues that were not collected by the supervisors and previous management, not including an additional $300,000 in penalties and IRS fines. (This occurred before I was elected in 2022.)
I am committed to rectifying errors of the previous supervisors and ensuring proper financial procedures are followed and addressing any outstanding financial obligations.
Jamie Morabito
Allegheny Township
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