New Sewickley Hills Treasurer Uncovers More Discrepancies in Borough's Finances

Borough finances dominated the conversation at Monday’s general council meeting after newly hired Treasurer Larry Hermes revealed several discrepancies in the municipality’s accounts.

In his report, Hermes summarized a variety of inconsistencies that had come to light during his preliminary review of the borough’s accounts. He said it showed that in January, former treasurer Tom  issued two inaccurate payroll checks to borough secretary Betsy Rengers, which together amounted to $47.16 more than what was due her.

The checks reflected a 50-cent-per-hour increase in Rengers’ salary, which was not approved by council.

Although Rengers notified council in January of the error and refunded the extra payment, she later received three more inaccurate checks. The final three were never cashed and replacement checks were issued. The corrected payroll checks were cashed, but there was no record of them in the borough’s general ledger, Hermes said.

Borough procedures call for each borough check to be signed by council President Tom Klixbull, Councilwoman Cindy Phillips and Mayor David Malarik. In the past, all payroll checks have been prepared and signed in the first general council meeting of the month and distributed later.

“Slap me on the wrist. It was an honest mistake,” Klixbull said.

“You should step down for that statement alone,” Councilman Noah Fardo said.

Councilman Klaus Gross moved that the policy regarding payroll check preparation should be changed and that checks should be signed only after work or services have been completed. Fardo seconded the motion,  which passed unanimously.

“I don’t trust the people who are signing the checks at all,” Fardo said.

In addition to the payroll checks, the borough treasurer reported finding a $6,095 discrepancy in the municipality’s general operating account, which can be traced back to at least December 2009.

Although the error is in the borough’s favor, Hermes said no monthly documentation exists to report the inconsistency. He also reported a $311 error in the borough’s sanitary account.

“There may be a deposit that was missed or a check that wasn’t cashed,” Hermes said.

Hermes, who was hired last month, said that his review of the Sewickley Hills' finances would continue.

Separately, Klixbull announced that borough secretary Rengers was resigning after more than four years of service. Council voted 5-0 to pay Rengers for approximately 135 hours of unused vacation and other compensation hours, not to exceed a total of $3,000. Rengers’s hourly rate was $17.50 per hour.

Council will advertise for a replacement, and Rengers will continue to work for the borough on a temporary basis until her successor is named.