Infighting hurt Monessen’s TAN loan application
By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
The instability of leadership and internal struggles among Monessen city council members cost the town a chance at receiving a tax anticipation loan, according to this month’s financial report.
After the meeting, Mayor Matt Shorraw said he hopes council can figure out a way to fix its issues soon.
“It’s clearly hurting us,” Shorraw said. “It’s hurting us to attract any businesses or development. I don’t know right now (how to fix it). We can all do better. I know I can. There is still a lot of mistrust between members and that’s a hurdle to overcome for sure. Hopefully we can work it out.”
Council finance Chairman Gil Coles said the TAN loan was also denied because city Administrator John Harhai is having a difficult time making sense of the budget and past financial records.
Coles said another issue is the significant amount of longterm debt on the city’s books that is “without a concise plan of repayment.”
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