On Friday, I told you a highly ranking Bethlehem City official was recently fired after discovery of financial irregularities. I declined to name the person, preferring to wait until a criminal investigation was complete. WFMZ-TV69 and The Morning Call subsequently followed up with their own stories, naming the person in question.
He's Mark Sivak, who happens to be Bethlehem's Budget Director. He's been employed by Bethlehem for the past 15 years. Prior to that, he worked for the City of Allentown and in the private sector as an accountant. He's a 2000 graduate of King's College, where he majored in accounting. I considered him one of Bethlehem's best employees and was shocked to learn what had happened.
So far as I know, his embezzlement scheme was two-pronged.
The first aspect of it involves an abuse of the City's Paypal account, which it uses as a petty cash fund to make purchases. I am informed by a forensic auditor that it's inadvisable for municipal government to use Paypal for small purchases because the records fail to show instantaneously the way they would with a credit card, making abuse more difficult to track.
The second aspect involves cell phones and other electronic devices issued to city employees. They periodically are eligible for upgrades. Sivak was allegedly getting the upgrades and selling them.
Sivak's theft was caught by City Controller George Yasso, an independently elected official. He maintains a hotline for tips by both employees and City residents at 610-865-7266.
I am unsure how long Sivak had been dipping into the cookie jar or how much money is involved. Those details will emerge when charges are filed.
There is nothing like a government pension these days, especially from school districts and municipalities. They pay well and the public service employees provide during their career generally entitle them (meaning us, as I am a retired municipal employee) to great health benefits.
ReplyDeleteGovernment salaries are generally not on par with the private sector. The real compensation for steady, long-term employees comes after leaving public service. And service to the public is not easy. Constant struggles with bureaucracy, policies and procedures written during the 1970s and 1980s, and clamor by the public to increase services while reducing taxes make jobs nearly impossible. This goes double for the “budgeteers” in any city.
When I see someone entrusted with funds in my city going well outside the lines of propriety into what smells like criminal misconduct, my desire is not just to have the city made whole again. Punishment, if the individual is guilty, needs to include the loss of pension and benefits. Imprisonment won’t make a difference. The individual will be functionally unemployable. That’s worse than prison.
839. I cannot disagree. However, in a general sense, the action should be focused on those who committed the fraud and not the other victims who may be easily exploited for political gain or ones aspirations to seek higher office. Media tends to publish the most outrageous claims before they are ever substantiated. It sounds like Bethlehem has investigated this and has just cause before there was political grandstanding.
DeleteI do not feel sorry for someone who probably makes well over six figures. Most likely has a nice office inside city hall. Now the pension and every other benefit it is gone due to very poor decisions. You reap what you sow.
DeleteThis is why fiduciary bonds should always be considered when somebody else’s money is being collected by “school mothers” or professional office help ,church’s and service clubs are hit regularly It become a license to steal . I agree with the first poster. There has to be consequences.
ReplyDeleteEvery municipality, from small to large, should by law annually be required to have an independent forensic audit.
ReplyDeleteHow many of these embezzlement stories do we read about every year?
ReplyDeletePaypal = Elon Musk = cuckoo for coco puffs.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why people throw away a career like this. Is it arrogance? Maybe spending too much time at the casino? Drugs?
ReplyDeleteAs far as Johns post goes I agree with most of it, however, the government salaries have risen at a faster rate than real inflation over the last 15 years, so it's not like they're in the bread line at the food pantry either. I started with the state at 10.55 an hour and ended my career a few years back at about 40 bucks an hour. With a little OT 100K a year easy. I thought the salary was fair even though i got assaulted twice during my career, banged up a few other times. You do get the pension and health care at the end, that is if you survive your career. I don't mean getting hurt, I mean making it through all the political changes, vendettas, incompetent managers in positions that they don't belong in ect. You don't have a career in government, you survive it LOL.
John and Peter are right though, these guys that do this and skate with their pensions, that's got to stop. This guy had 20 years in and he'll be able to freeze his pension and go do something else, that's why they allowed him to resign I bet.
Alcohol, drugs and gambling were my first thoughts as well. Can’t see any other reason….leaning towards the gambling. Casino is just down the road. If you are leading an honest life with a 6 figure salary and good health insurance in Bethlehem you can live a comfortable life. No need to steal unless something else is going on.
DeleteThis is extremely disappointing and I can’t imagine what drives someone to be so dishonest with other people’s money. It would be akin to Bethlehem finalizing payments on the Hirko lawsuit and then hiding the Hirko tax under something else. Not that Bethlehem would be dishonest…
ReplyDeleteAlthough this borders on what might be considered a petty value crime it is a major concern. If he can get away with this what else is going on in the area. And hmm he was tied back to Allentown. Is there a larger symptom here that needs to be investigated?
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder how deep the corruption goes.
ReplyDeleteAnother source tells me the new administration is is disarray.
A school teacher is not qualified to act as the chief officer of a city with an 80+ million budget.
This is the type of thing that happens when people only want a certain position for further political gains. Not too mention there is more than one school teacher involved when it comes to the budget.
DeleteController getting the credit, but Controller was asleep for a few years while this went on without being noticed. I've heard it was dumb luck Controller even caught it.
ReplyDeleteI worked with young Mark when he started in public accounting. He was once reprimanded for signing off on audit steps that he did not actually complete. I am saddened by how he ended up.
ReplyDeleteAs far as municipal pensions, PA changed the law after a well known former state senator who was serving a prison term for corruption was reported to have collected a substantial pension. The current law is that a public employee who is convicted of a felony forefits his pension.
Will be interesting to hear the actual dollar amounts. As for pension the employee also contributes usually and their money can not be taken away as it was their money contribution to their pension
ReplyDelete"Controller getting the credit, but Controller was asleep for a few years while this went on without being noticed. I've heard it was dumb luck Controller even caught it."
ReplyDeletei have no idea how long this was going on ans am unable to assune a fact not in evidence.
Kind of off subject, but related to Beth City admin..wasn’t there an employee there in a high position that gave his wife a significant raise or something like that? Bernie - I think you may have reported on this..maybe a year or two ago?
ReplyDeleteBusiness Admnistrator. Wife is in charge of Recreation. There was no nepotism what so ever. Wink Wink
DeletePart of the problems is the executive branch of every level of local government, especially city and county is all powerful and strong, while the legislative branch is weak and uninformed. They are told what the Administration wants them to hear.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like the equivalent of robbing vending machines for loose change. To risk so much for so little is flabbergasting.
ReplyDelete"Part of the problems is the executive branch of every level of local government, especially city and county is all powerful and strong, while the legislative branch is weak and uninformed. They are told what the Administration wants them to hear."
ReplyDeleteThis is correct, but mostly due to the elected City Councilpersons not fully using the power they do have, and them being less than part-time officials so not there on a daily basis. Some of that was by design of the state legislature when they created the existing local government structure. In townships and boroughs, the executive and legislative are consolidated, and there are still issues of uninformed elected officials, due to the power they give their township managers and borough managers. Elect strong leaders who will answer to the people, not puppets!
So if a meter maid pocketed quarters from a meter, somehow it council 's fault for not carrying on and holding the administration responsible? I don't buy that. It is a break down of internal checks and balances and a concentration of financial power. My guess, there may have been some day to day person who had a suspicion. It does appear that the full time Contoller's efforts worked and it is unlikely a council or mayor/manager would have discovered this from looking at the City budget or monthly reports. Most municipamities do not have the resources of a Controller and annual audits are not detailed enough and only as good as the information provided . These things happen when long trusted people have the only word in the matter and control the narrative. If this was a member of bargaining staff, it would be considered a personnel matter until such time the person is charged with a crime with a high certainty of conviction.
DeleteBut this man is a member of their bargaining staff. Not sure what you are getting at.
DeleteSivak is an idiot. According to WFMZ today, the thefts only add up to about $15,000. Why risk a six-figure government job over $15,000? Was it the rush of feeling like he was getting away with something when selling the City-owned phones for profit? I was expecting the theft to be more like in the hundreds of thousands.
ReplyDeleteMost likely was the feeling of not getting caught. But then again, he did work for Fed Ed in Allentown.
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