The Complaint (Continued)
The Hollidaysburg Community Watchdog (HCW) began investigating the finances of a small township in Huntingdon, PA in August of 2023. Read more about the larger complaint and investigation here.
As we said in that article, Henderson Township receives state subsidies for its employee pension plan. This requires a periodic audit from the State Auditor General (AG). In the 2018-2022 Audit, the AG gives the Henderson Plan a general pass, but shows the Township had been overpaid by the state by about $2,000. In addition to the AG’s finding of “inadequate accounting/reporting over activity of the pension plan,” the report showed that the township had still not sent reimbursement for this $2,000.
The Watchdog wanted to confirm whether or not Henderson Township Supervisors Robert A. Coffelt and David L. Howe had been paying into the township’s pension plan. This is important for 2 reasons:
- Payments into the pension plan would indicate that Coffelt and Howe were functioning as formal employees of the township. It’s perfectly lawful to be a township employee and a supervisor under the 1933 Act 69. But there was no public record of either supervisor being employed in any capacity.
- Pension payments could provide a why for the extra money found in Henderson Township’s books. But, since the 1933 Act 69 restricts compensation of supervisors, these payments would be clearly unlawful.
Watchdog Interaction with Officials
In this case, the Watchdog crafted its own RTK and sent it to F. Stephenson Matthes, Chief Counsel and Open Records Officer for the PA Department of the Auditor General. Records from the Auditor General were received in a timely manner, following a rightfully-invoked extension of time to retrieve them. The 56 pages received, however, were hardly sufficient for our request.
Conclusion
- The records were filled with denials and redactions, not all of which we believe were justified under the RTK Law.
- The records did seem to indicate that there were only two active employees enrolled in the plan. This means that neither Howe nor Coffelt have been receiving pensions.
- The records also included communication between the Township and the state agency well-worth reviewing. This communication makes up the bulk of the “NUPP Audit Report Attachments” file below.
- We found a minor mistake in the misgendering of the requestor, HCW Production Editor Andrae Holsey, who is a “Mr.”.
- Since the major question of pension payments was answered, the Watchdog opted not to appeal the AG’s response to the Office of Open Records.
