And now, a recipe for a little fudge

Phoenixville’s administration continues its sorry pattern of financial misreporting to the Council and the public. Needless to say, it’s in the Trash Fund, where the trash just won’t stop.

In a budget report submitted to Council, covering the first six months of the year, the administration reports “solid waste collection” charges of $948,805.21. Since for the first half of the year, the quarterly charge was $55.25, the corresponding revenues should have been around $570,401 ($55.25 times 2 quarters times 5,162 customers). So, what accounts for the $378,404.21 higher figure in the administration’s report?

Let’s just try dividing that number by 5,162 and see what we get.

Gee whiz, it’s $73.31.

Isn’t that pretty darn close to the new quarterly trash fee?

I get the funny feeling that our fiscal geniuses put the third quarter revenue into the figures for the first half year. What a set of accounting principles!

And, by the way, for some reason the first half year’s figures do not contain any of the $24,000 annual budget for workers’ compensation expense.

So, we have a revenue overstatement of $378K and an expense understatement of $12K.

Your $390K fudge is now ready.