The Morning Report
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After correcting the practice of using money from water and sewer bills to buoy the city’s general fund last year, Mayor Jerry Sanders said today that a similar transferring of money from the Environmental Services Department to the general fund is wrong and will be corrected.
The $2 million dollars that was paid out of the enterprise department, which funds the city’s trash collection service, will be returned using the general fund’s reserves, Sanders said.
For example, Sanders said the maintenance of recycling bins that are currently a part of the department’s budget should be paid for out of the general fund.
The mayor took responsibility that the “inappropriate” transfer wasn’t corrected a year ago when it was initially reported. Those transfers were more recently highlighted during the Feb. 6 City Council discussion of Sanders’ plans to streamline the Environmental Services Department.
Sanders said he also tapped Chief Financial Officer Jay Goldstone and public works chief Rich Haas to investigate the possibility of other inappropriate transfers between years.