No Double Dipping!
POTTSTOWN, PA – A Save Pottstown!! reader recently forwarded us an interesting double-standard and asked us to investigate.
With our recent postings on Pottstown’s notorious ménage a trois, Shade Tree/Tree Commission/Trees, Inc., it appears that someone may be profiting from Pottstown’s most debated non-profit.
In July of 2002, a property owner replaced a dead tree on their property. The property owner contacted Thomas Hylton, chairman of Pottstown’s Shade Tree Commission, to inquire the process of having a tree removed. Hylton stated that the property owner was financially responsible for removal of the tree. So, the property owner did that. Here’s the invoice the reader provided to us:
Scheifley Tree Removal Invoice
Our question is, if this property owner paid $350 to have the dead tree removed (and its stump ground), why is it appearing on the 2003 budget of Trees, Inc.?
From the period of 2003-2007 the Borough of Pottstown contributed almost $105,000 to the coffers of Trees, Inc. So, if the property owner paid to have this service done, why did Trees, Inc. pay a different contractor to perform the same service already done six months prior??
After the recent discovery, the property owner discussed this matter with a member of borough council.
If you’ve had a tree removed from your property in the past ten years and suspect double dipping…you really need to contact a member of Pottstown Borough Council to make them aware.
Please research your records and look for any past invoices. Cross reference your invoices with those posted on the Trees, Inc. website. We don’t think this is an isolated case of double dipping.
Double dipping is not only unethical and a misuse of public funds…but, as fans of Seinfeld know, it’s also unsanitary.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if such an investigation were to turn up just what you expect. If Mr. Hylton is in fact, guilty of steeling a few hundred dollars here and there from the Pottstown coffers, it wouldn’t amount to much when compared to the ways he’s already hurt the town financially by standing in the way of any effort at economic recovery ever proposed in this town. Remember that this is the man who fought vehemently to reject the $20 million dollars the state had earmarked for Pottstown to renovate the Washington Street Neighborhood and surrounding areas a few years ago.
Tom has been accused of MANY things. However I can’t say as I’ve ever heard anyone accuse him of “being guilty” of traits like honesty and integrity.