PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council will investigate Parking Authority finances, under a resolution passed Thursday.
Councilmember Helen Gym, the resolution's sponsor, said she wants to investigate a $34 million fund the Parking Authority established to pay retiree health benefits.
According to Gym, it was a secret fund.
"This had never been disclosed before publicly to the district or to the city. It was never made clear in financial audits delivered to our body," said Gym.
She said she learned about it in emails between the authority and the School District.
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But the Parking Authority said it was no secret and was actually a cost-saving measure.
The authority also denies the resolution’s charge that it is demanding the refund of an $11 million overpayment it claims it made to the school district.
The purported overpayment has been a point of dispute between the school district and the Authority for several weeks.
School finance director Uri Monson sent a letter to the authority in late January, asking several questions about how it determined that it had overpaid the district and by how much.
Parking Authority executive director Scott Petri responded that Monson did not understand the funding formula.
“Your letter raises a variety of questions,” Petri wrote, “all of which are premised on an inaccurate understanding of the law.”
Monson wrote again, requesting the Authority’s calculations and asking how it intended to handle the disputed $11 million.
“Is it the intent of the Parking Authority to demand repayment from the District, deduct the amount from any future distributions until the balance is satisfied, or forgive any outstanding amounts?” he asked.
He says he still has not received a reply.
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The resolution may be notable for those who followed the federal corruption trial of former Councilmember Bobby Henon.
He was accused of quashing a resolution that endorsed an audit of the authority, as a favor to the former chairman. Henon was acquitted of those charges.
Now, not only is Council supporting an audit, it’s conducting an inquiry of its own.
More streeteries and more bike lanes may be coming to Philadelphia. One bill introduced into Council on Thursday would put bike lanes on Market Street from 30th to 34th Streets. Another would allow more streeteries in parts of South and Southwest Philadelphia.
