State Auditor’s Office Verifies Manipulation and Mismanagement of Distressed Cities Program

May 15, 2008

Contact: Andy Pratt / 609-292-5199
Senator Steve Oroho (R-24)

Oroho Renews Call for Subpoena Power and Investigation

Senator Oroho, R-Sussex, released a new report prepared by the State Auditor’s Office that is highly critical of the “Special Municipal Aid Program.”

The expense has ballooned from $38 million just 6 years ago to $153 million today. Legislative Republicans have asked repeatedly for documents that would explain how a handful of recipients got aid and why they received the amounts they were awarded. Astoundingly, state officials have denied every request for these documents on technicalities, denying taxpayers the right to know how hundreds of millions of dollars of their money was spent.

Democrats also refused to debate a resolution introduced by Senator Oroho and co-sponsored by all Senate Republicans that would give the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee the subpoena power needed to uncover how this program is being run.

“This audit shows that $153 million has been awarded to a handful of towns without any printed criteria for awarding grants. Taxpayers are seeing property tax relief slashed and commuters are being told the only way to pay for road repairs is to hike the gas tax or raise tolls. How can anyone ask us to re-fund this program in next year’s budget without telling how this money was awarded or how it was spent?

“The State Auditor’s report (attached) notes that grants are awarded without a meaningful paper trail and subject to ‘managerial override,’ which seems to mean that when objective criteria didn’t provide the money, politicians overrode state employees and awarded it anyway.

“This report only adds to evidence that supporting the need for an investigation is warranted and why subpoena power is needed to get to get to the truth about how this program was manipulated.”