PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has taken the unusual step of hiring an outside accounting firm to perform a forensic audit on the Office of Homeless Services.
The office has overspent its budget for the last four years, since the pandemic. It has also failed to reimburse some of the agencies it contracts with.
The city’s inspector general was assigned to investigate the office in December. However, in a news release issued on Wednesday, the mayor said some of the preliminary findings are of “grave concern,” so she has hired the firm of Horsey, Buckner and Heffler to perform the audit.
Normally, the city controller is charged with auditing city departments, but Parker said the outside audit will be shared with the controller when it’s completed.