State-appointed receiver David Unkovic’s long-awaited financial plan for the struggling city of Harrisburg, Pa., is due Monday.
The city is roughly $310 million in debt, a figure about five times the size of its general fund budget, and has skipped about $65 million of bond payments related to a retrofit of its trash burner.
A forensic audit released two weeks ago by the Harrisburg Authority, which owns the incinerator, chastised several parties, including itself, the city, Dauphin County and numerous professional advisors for brushing off warning signs about the deal.
The City Council has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the bond deals.
Too many parties “turned a blind eye to conflicts of interest,” council member Brad Koplinski said recently.
The council’s attorney, Mark Schwartz, has asked the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine the transactions.
Unkovic has appeared at several public meetings, including one at the school board last week.
He has said he would not pursue criminal charges related to incinerator finances because his job is merely to draft a recovery plan.
