GOSHEN – In the wake of the theft of just under $10,000 in public
boat launch funds from the City of Newburgh by former City Comptroller
John Aber, Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler brought the city’s
financial oversight to the grand jury for examination and what it found
was a glaring lack of oversight built into the structure of Newburgh government,
specifically the comptroller’s office. (Read
the full grand jury report.)
One bit of silver lining in the report said the city should continue to
build on the improvements made by current Comptroller Kathryn “Katie”
Mack.
The report said a lack of checks and balances resulted in the thefts by
Aber, who pled guilty to a charge of grand larceny.
Among the revelations in the report are that the city spent $30,000 for
non-cash, electronic parking meters in 2013, but they sit idle in a DPW
office; that a police officer had to be assigned to city council meetings
to maintain order; and that Newburgh has a high turnover of top administrators
including city manager, comptroller (eight comptrollers since 2007), and
police chief. “The lack of continuity in city managers and city
comptrollers may have contributed to the city’s failure to adopt
better and more comprehensive money handling practices,” the grand
jury report stated.
Former Police Chief Daniel Cameron, who testified at the grand jury, said
politics often trumps government operations. He testified that when city
street surveillance cameras would break he never received sufficient funds
to keep them in proper working order. The grand jury report stated: “There
was at least one homicide that might have been solved more quickly had
a broken camera in the area been working at the time. The city council
addressed this issue, not by passing funding to repair broken cameras,
but by stating that the city manager and the police chief should have
ensured that the cameras were operating properly.”
The report noted that recommendations in a 2012 state comptroller’s
office audit have not yet been implemented. The Implementation of those
as well as 25 others is contained in the new report. “It is distressing
that city officials never implemented the practical recommendations that
were contained in the report issued by the State Comptroller’s Office
in 2012,” said DA Hoovler. “The residents of Newburgh deserve
to have their public officials safeguard municipal funds so that they
can be used to benefit city residents and not be stolen or wasted. As
noted in the grand jury’s report, the City of Newburgh has suffered
by the frequent turn-over of municipal officials including police chief,
the city manager and city comptroller. I urge city officials to carefully
consider all of the grand jury’s recommendations, and implement
those which will safeguard city funds as soon as possible.”
