Agreement could save Perry Township more than $100,000 in debt payments
PERRY TWP – The supervisors said Tuesday that the township, through a recent agreement, would save a little more than $100,000 while paying off the remaining debts it has with National City Bank. The township owes the bank $217,117 from a tax anticipation loan taken out in 1999. Since an investigative audit by Cypher & Cypher certified public accountants was completed for 1997 through 1999, the township has been paying the interest on the loan but little toward the principal, until last month.
Last month, the supervisors received $50,000 from the agency holding the secretary’s bond for 1999, the last year former supervisor and treasurer Rick Uhrin worked. The board voted to use the money to pay off a portion of the amount due to National City.
Supervisor Janet Galla said that decision paid off. Galla explained that by agreeing to continue paying the interest until May 2003, when the township will pay $108,000 to National City, the bank has agreed to forgive the remaining amount of more than $100,000 in principal.
“Since we sent in that $50,000, everyone (at National City Bank) started perking up,” said Supervisor A.J. Boni.
Once the debt owed to National City Bank is paid, the only debts left for the township to pay off will be about $80,000 to the Internal Revenue Service and $11,000 on township pensions that went unpaid from 1997 to 1999, Boni said. The supervisors said they hope to have the past debts paid by 2004 so they can focus on paving roads and other township business.
In an unrelated matter, Supervisor Adam Muccioli, angered that his fellow supervisors refused to release his pension to him before a state investigation is completed, left the meeting before its conclusion, along with several family members who were in the audience.
The state auditor general’s office is looking into the township’s finances from 1997 to 1999, the same years covered by the independent investigative audit.
“I am not under investigation,” Muccioli said, calling the supervisors’ stance an “unfair maneuver.”
Township solicitor Michael Macko said the township is taking a conservative view on the situation and has agreed not to release any pension funds until the auditor general’s office completes its investigation. Boni added that the supervisors also turned down a similar request by Uhrin for the same reason.
Macko stressed that the money isn’t being withheld based on who is being investigated but only until the investigation is completed. He reminded Muccioli that he could appeal the decision.
In the investigative audit, Cypher & Cypher reported that it appeared Muccioli was overpaid $36,000 from 1997 to 1999. Muccioli said that, in reality, he earned the money, but his W-2 tax return, filed by Uhrin, was incorrect.
“I went to the IRS to get this fixed. They agreed that Rick (Uhrin) never put it all on the W-2. The IRS told me, ‘We owe you for 1997.’ I never took it, never filled out the forms,” he said.