Good Luck Jaymes Vettraino

4-1-08 Vettraino’s Resignation
Gennaro A. Marino P.E.
409 W. Main St.
Kutztown, Pa 19530
www.marinoreport.com 610-683-7977
e-mail kmayor@ptd.net
Borough Manager\Treasurer Vettraino
Kutztown Borough Hall
45 Railroad St.
Kutztown, Pa 19530
Dear Borough Manager\Treasurer,
When did you apply for a position in Michigan? Was it after you received your big raise, or was it after you raised our taxes and every conceivable fee and service and realized there is no way out of our financial disaster? You also created many new fees and taxes to finance Hometown Utilicom which loses about $1 million a year.
In your five years here you have never published a financial report on Hometown Utilicom or had an internal audit on our Borough finances. In fact there is no Budget available for the public at the Borough Hall for 2006 or 2007 at this time.
The newspaper article in the Reading Eagle by Michele Park dated March 12, 2008 titled “Dissonance in Kutztown” states HU has 1017 customers paying an average $49 a month which is about $50,000 a month and about $600,000 a year. The article then goes on to state that the Budget for HU is $1.1 million. How can the Budget be $1.1 million when revenue from the subscribers is $600,000? The article also states that the venture brings in enough revenue to cover its day-to-day expenses, and in 2007 it realized an operating profit for the first time. That profit was $80,000.
If $500,000 comes from within the Borough of which $250,000 is a transfer from the Electric Fund, how can there be a profit of $80,000? And if the venture covers its day-to-day expenses, why does the Borough need a $300,000 loan for operating expenses? Note: You originally asked for operating expenses of $300,000 from the loan.
The article also states that the Source was Jaymes Vettraino Borough Manager and not the Budget or Financial Report. Mr. Vettraino you should produce the backup for your figures.
When ex-Borough Manager\Treasurer Keith Hill resigned and you became Borough Manager\Treasurer there was no internal audit and you continued the illegal bookkeeping of Treasurer Keith Hill. Keith Hill, the Borough Council, Borough Solicitor Timothy Dietrich and Independent Auditor Long all vehemently stated the Borough did not need an internal audit even though it is common practice in the corporate world to have an audit when a Treasurer departs.
Mr. Hill was Treasurer for at least 10 years and you have been the Treasurer for 5 years which means no independent CPA, accountant or any government agency has examined the Borough’s internal bookkeeping for at least 15 years, of course with the approval of the Borough Council, Solicitors Mooney and Dietrich and Auditor Long of Long & Barrell Ltd, the Boroughs Independent Auditor.
I have noted in my many letters to you and the Borough Council that the Budget is falsified, many reports are fraudulent, contracts were illegally awarded without public bids and funds were transferred illegally within the Borough. I have never received any type of response to my accusations, charges or comments. Again I repeat there is no Budget for 2006 or 2007 available to the public at this time which is a clear and arrogant violation of the Borough Code.
Please open all of the Borough’s books and financial records to the public before you leave because the website of the City of Rochester Michigan includes their entire Budget. Good Luck.
Sincerely,


Gennaro A. Marino P.E.