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Thursday, March 11, 2010

City Discovers $3.4 Million in Uncashed Checks

City Inspector General Amy Kurland today said her office has discovered that $3.4 million in city wage tax payment checks from the U.S. Department of Defense were never cashed back in 2005.

Now that's an unbalanced checkbook.

Kurland said that the department re-issued the checks, which were received today. She said it wasn't clear if the error was intentional, but an investigation continues into the case. Mayor Nutter said the city is reviewing whether the money has already been accounted for.
Posted by Catherine Lucey @ 3:06 PM  Permalink | 20 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:32 PM, 03/11/2010
    Uhhhh....do you think someone should have noticed $3.4M in missing funds. Typical of this incompetent Democrat machine.
    — Kaiser Sosa
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:25 PM, 03/11/2010
    I blame Bush!
    — jkain
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:40 PM, 03/11/2010
    My head just hurts. WTF? Good job Amy Kurland for going after answers and getting the money. But my GOD. Wage tax payments, that has to be in the Dept. of Revenue that the employee didn't cash the checks, and didn't any supervisor notice that this work was not being done? The state is really going to have to do a full audit of the Dept. of Revenue, the Sheriff, the BRT, the OCQS, all the row offices and then some the offices in charge of collecting and processing taxes, fees, and fines that are not row offices. This should be the City Controller who finds this stuff out because he is required by law to do an ANNUAL AUDIT of every city dept., instead of worrying about Darfur. Alan Butkovitz is a disgrace as a City Controller for letting this go on for so long, for allowing his office to fail so badly in reviewing the books of city offices tasked with collecting money. The buck stops with Butkovitz.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:42 PM, 03/11/2010
    Kaiser is right -- it is the the machine that re-elected Butkovitz, because everyone knew Mandel would have won a truly fair and open election with no vote stuffing and straight ballot voting by the party drones.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:19 AM, 03/12/2010
    Yet another example of terrible financial oversight by the city Controller's Office. It's hard to believe that such a huge amount of money went "missing". Who does the cash account reconciliation for the city and the Department of Defense? Where were these checks found? Whose desk? Why were they uncashed for five years? Should Butkovitz be fired? How do we know there aren't more uncashed checks? Maybe we DON't have a deficit? How would we ever know, given accounting practices this sloppy?
    — feudi
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:40 AM, 03/12/2010
    Boy, first 5 million in unpaid bail, now 3.4 million in uncashed checks, keep digging you'll pay off the budget with the inept employees in the city government. In Philadelphia you couldn't make this stuff up, I don't know to laugh or cry????
    — Dadair1
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  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:09 AM, 03/12/2010
    Amy...good work, now how about going after the city employees and programs that are stealing money from the city?
    — westphillyguy
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:45 AM, 03/12/2010
    From top to bottem this city is corrupt.Roosters
    — Edu
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:02 PM, 03/12/2010
    How much did the city lose in interest on those uncashed checks?
    — J H
  • Comment removed.


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About The Philly Clout Team
PhillyClout
Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics ­– which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002 and has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. After covering the 2007 mayoral election, she moved over to the City Hall bureau where she has been reporting on the Nutter administration.
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans.
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Catherine Lucey
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