Forensic audit a no-go, mayor admits after questioning
TRENTON >> Call it a C.Y.A. moment.
At-large councilman Jerell Blakeley suggested at Tuesday’s meeting that Mayor Reed Gusciora was looking out for No. 1 when he asked the state to conduct a forensic audit of the city’s books due to what the mayor termed in October were “budget inconsistencies” and a “lack of stringent bookkeeping” by the past two administrations.
The mayor didn’t point to any specific suspicions of criminal hanky-panky over budget finances when he wrote to Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver asking the Department of Community Affairs to perform an exhaustive examination of the city’s financial books, the at-large councilman pointed out.
Now, council members wanted to know whatever happened to the forensic audit, wondering if it commenced or was put on the back-burner.
Blakeley suggested the mayor’s request was nothing more than a blame-shifting “political ploy” to provide Gusciora cover for what is expected to be a tough budget process in the coming months.
The mayor shrugged off those allegations in an interview late Tuesday but admitted state officials indicated to his administration they plan to scale back the scope of the audit.
The audit, pared down from the mayor’s initial pitch for an all-encompassing deep dive of the city’s books, will attempt to reconcile missing documentation related to federal Community Development Block Grants.
“They told us since you’re main beef seems to be [community block grants] we’re just going to concentrate on straightening that out,” Gusciora said. “It’s still satisfactory to us. A forensic audit it’s very expensive.”
In response to growing questions from the city’s legislative body, the mayor conceded the audit was “still in the queue.”
“We’re beholden to them [DCA],” Gusciora said. “It’s their timeline.”
The Trentonian revealed earlier this year that the city has lost out on $6 million in grant money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development due to what Gusciora deemed were blunders under former Mayor Eric Jackson.
The city’s HUD problems predate Jackson, as Gusciora said missing documentation stretches back to at least 2011, under corrupted former Mayor Tony Mack.
The city, which according to news reports the feds designated in 2015 as a highrisk grantee, has had federal block grant funding cut and withheld over the years.
Council president Kathy McBride said HUD “zeroed out” the city because of repeated and unrectified mismanagement and recordkeeping gaffes.
The mayor said city officials unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate with officials at HUD to restore some community block funding.
Defending the request for help from the state, the mayor said the snags alone “totally warrant” a closer inspection of the records if not a forensic audit.
“Community block grants are the building blocks for any urban city,” the mayor said. “It’s infuriating.”