From the Northwest Indiana Times:
State auditors cited the city of Gary for sloppy bookkeeping and fiscal mismanagement Wednesday in an 88-page State Board of Accounts examination of last year's budget.
The audit was replete with complaints that city departments failed to pay bills on time, reported money transfers that ran up multi-million dollar shortfalls and failed to comply with federal grant reporting requirements in a number of social programs.
M. Celita Green, director of city finance and Arlene Colvin, director of the Gary division of community development, wrote to state officials they are taking corrective action. The city has hired Crowe Horwath, a national consulting firm, to assist in this.
City officials started 2012 with a $4.9 million deficit in the general fund that grew to more than $6.8 million by the end of last year, according to the report.
The audit states several of the funds have been overdrawn continuously for four or more years and warns that routinely overdrawn funds could be an indicator of serious financial problems, which should be investigated.
Gary has been in financial distress for years because of stated-mandated property tax collection cuts. The city has rolled over budget deficits in the hope of future relief, such as the new county income tax promising $9 million in additional funds next year.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/gary/state-audit-urges-gary-to-tidy-up-its-fiscal-books/article_f2115595-f3e8-59a7-a9ae-29fd4a3c37ca.html
