PRESS RELEASE: Key Findings from Marcum LLP’s ARPA Forensic Investigation
Published on May 19, 2022
May 19, 2022
Key Findings from Marcum LLP’s ARPA Forensic Investigation
Upper Darby, PA: Marcum LLP, a top national CPA (Certified Public Accountant) firm specializing in tax, audit, forensic, & advisory services presented their findings today from the forensic investigation regarding the management and accounting of ARPA funds disbursed to Upper Darby during Mayor Keffer’s town hall. Below are the key findings of this report:
Marcum performed analyses of the actual bank balances of general fund bank accounts comparing them to the ARP funds from December 1, 2021 through February 7, 2022 and determined that the actual bank balances exceeded the ARP funds at all times.
Despite numerous interviews, NO person reported or provided information alleging misuse of the ARPA proceeds.
At the February 2, 2022 UDT Council Meeting UDT Treasurer David Haman (“Haman”) stated “we’re six million dollars less than we started with.” Haman’s comment was based on his “treasurer’s report” which included only eleven general fund accounts and compared the ARP funds to one general fund bank account. Investigation established Haman was incorrect. The “Analysis of Operating Funds for the Month of December 2021” prepared by Merron and emailed to Haman on January 28, 2022 contradicts this statement, showing an “operating fund balance” of $1.9 million over the ARP amount received (i.e. approximately $22.7 million compared to the $20.88 million of ARP funds). At the time of this meeting, Haman and Merron knew or should have known that Haman’s report was flawed.
Haman in his interview stated that he regrets the wording he used in his report and that he should not have labeled it on the document he presented as “ARP funds spent.”
Council should appropriate the funds in a timely manner in order to allow Upper Darby Township to use the funds prior to expiration. States, localities, territories, and tribal governments have until December 31, 2024 to obligate these funds and December 31, 2026 to spend the ARP funds.
Marcum requested a Zoom interview with Laura Wentz, Upper Darby Township Council Vice President, Councilwoman At Large and the Chair of the Finance Committee. Ultimately Wentz declined the invitation by stating “I do not see any justification for you to need to speak to me or any Council Member.”
“It’s very important to me that the public have confidence in how this investigation was conducted and that the people conducting it had no prior connections to Upper Darby,” Mayor Keffer stated. “To be very clear about the nature of this report, we commissioned the investigation and cooperated fully, but we did not direct or control the process. That is the nature of an independent third party forensic investigation.”
The full report can be found on the Township’s website by clicking the link here: https://www.upperdarby.org/news/post/4395/.
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